Downing left and Tom began poring over reports and checking on updated maps. In the Pacific, it was evident that the Japs were over-matched and retreating everywhere. They had been defeated in the Solomons and New Guinea, and the U.S. army was preparing to invade and liberate the Philippines in early 1944. This was much sooner than if the U.S. had had to fight a two front war. The poor Japs, Tom thought, had no idea what was going to hit them after they attacked Pearl Harbor. Tough shit, he thought. They deserved it after Pearl Harbor and Bataan.
The flip side of the coin was that, without the American help that had been sustaining them, both the Soviet Union and Great Britain had collapsed by late 1942. He understood that many of the people at the top, like FDR and Marshall, considered the Nazis to be the main enemy and the war against Japan a distraction that had to be endured before the real war could commence. Sometimes Tom agreed with that assessment, but, more often, was glad that such decisions were well above his pay grade.
If only England and Russia had managed to hang on, he continued to think, the map of world wouldn't look so damn strange.
What had once been the Soviet Union was now the truncated country of Russia, or more precisely, Siberia. The Russo-German lines ran up the Volga, passed a Stalingrad that had been taken by the Germans after incredibly bloody and brutal fighting, and to where it turned towards the Urals. From there on it ran northward along the roughly defined border between Germany and Russia that was the Ural Mountains. The Reds held the passes, so they were relatively safe, and the Germans seemed content to stay on their side of the Volga. The Russian capital was now at Sverdlovsk, which had previously been called Ekaterinberg and was the site of the massacre of the Czar and his family by the Bolsheviks. Grant wondered if the current communist regime saw the irony. He doubted it. Every Russian he'd met had had no sense of humor whatsoever.
After Stalin's death during a bombing raid, and an internal Communist Party bloodbath, the Red Army had taken control of what was left and Marshal Semyon Timoshenko ran the rump of the country. Rumors that Stalin had been murdered by Lavrenti Beria were flatly denied but not fully believed. Beria had been killed in another "bombing raid," which meant there would be typical Russian silence on the matter. For the time being, the Red Army was running the remnants of the Soviet Union.
On a map, Great Britain and the Commonwealth looked unchanged. However, a very timid government was now in charge in London with an extremely reluctant Lord Halifax running the show and trying to maintain Great Britain’s existence. Flags stuck in the map indicated the continued presence of very small German garrisons at Belfast, Portsmouth and Liverpool. Their job was to ensure that the British did not rearm and that the negotiations for a permanent peace continued. It appeared that the Germans were treading carefully in England, while England tried to hold the Nazi monster at bay. Still, the status quo could not last forever. Either Great Britain would sign a humiliating treaty or the war would renew. Popular opinion in the Pentagon said that this would happen if Russia collapsed; thus permitting Hitler to focus solely on the British Isles.
Of all the Commonwealth nations, only Canada had been seriously affected by what amounted to a major British defeat. The Nazis had insisted on the right to install an occupying force in Ontario, along with the coastal provinces of Labrador, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. German ships landed at the port of Halifax and supplies and men went by train through Quebec and on to points west. There were no German troops stationed in Quebec. The Quebecois' hatred of Germany was almost boundless and the provincial government was hard pressed to keep locals from blowing up trains and committing other acts of sabotage that were sure to bring savage reprisals down on their part of Canada. For their part, the Nazis kept their troops far away from Quebec.
The U.S. had protested this breach of the Monroe Doctrine, but to little effect. The war with Japan was on center stage. German transgressions would be ignored for the time being. Perhaps forever, Tom thought sadly.
To partly offset this and just prior to England’s collapse, American army and air force personnel had established a base at Gander, Newfoundland, taking over from the British.
Other Commonwealth countries had been spared any direct contact with the Nazis, although there were rumors that some disaffected white South Africans might look positively to working more closely with the Reich, and that the Germans wanted a base in Jamaica. The world looked bleak and strange and there was a madman astride it.
The only positive notes were that the enlarged and strengthened American bases at Iceland and Greenland were still in existence, and the German outrage at America's sudden takeover of Britain’s strategic citadel of Gibraltar had not resulted in military action. Both Spain and Germany had been as stunned by the last minute sale of Gibraltar to the United States by Great Britain as the U.S. had been with Germany's partial occupation of Canada. Spain's pro-German dictator, Francisco Franco, had professed his outrage, but decided not to take on the American army and navy at this time. Hitler too had been angered but decided not to upset the fragile truce between the Third Reich and the United States.
Portugal, also fearing an ambitious fascist Spain, had signed a treaty permitting American warships to be based at Lisbon, which was within striking distance of Gibraltar if the Spaniards attacked, and north at the city of Oporto.
Downing returned and closed the door. "Like what you see?"
"Not really."
"While you were traipsing around Canada, did you get a feel for how the people were taking it?"
"They were sick, stunned, and saddened. Perhaps only a few have decided to become Nazis, but the Germans have given those who have a lot of power and they are nasty. Based on anecdotes and impressions, I'd say that twenty per cent of the Canadian population is more or less in bed with the Nazis, while the rest are still in a state of shock."
"Are the Canadians ready to rebel?"
"Maybe if they had weapons, but they don't. Except for hunting rifles and shotguns, most Canadians don’t have access to real weapons. Hell, the krauts haven't even returned the Canadian Army. The Nazis are holding close to thirty thousand Canadian soldiers hostage, either interned in England or as actual prisoners of war in Germany."
"And how does that compare with the number of German soldiers in Canada?"
"I saw elements of six divisions with more arriving all the time, but they are largely keeping out of sight. There appears to be a massive group of bases north of Toronto. All roads are blocked off and either goons from the Canadian Legion or actual German soldiers are restricting access. I didn't even try to get past their roadblocks."
Downing pulled a bottle of Jim Beam from a bottom desk drawer along with two glasses. He poured generous portions into each and handed one to Tom.
"Glad to have you back, Tom."
"Glad to be back, colonel, but you know I prefer scotch."
"Go to hell, Tom."
What had once been a lush green field was covered by what might appear to be a fleet of wooden barracks and Quonset huts when viewed from the air. Several thousand people, many of them British refugees, now worked and lived in the giant compound. The site had once been a large and prosperous farm that had gone to ruin during the Depression and picked up by the U.S. government for a song. The hard part had been replacing the large number of people who either didn't come to the U.S. from England, or who wished to emigrate to another part of the Commonwealth. Care had been taken by both the U.S. and British governments to ensure that the really key people who'd worked at Bletchley Park had either come to Virginia or had quietly disappeared for the duration. Fortunately, most of the top and best people had come to the U.S. Some realized that if they hadn't they'd have been shot, either by the Germans or their own government.
The massive encampment was surrounded by barbed wire and there were watchtowers every hundred yards or so. A casual observer would have thought it was a prison camp. Someone more observant would have noticed that the machine guns on the to
wers faced outward. They were to protect the inhabitants, not imprison them.
Even though she'd worked at Camp Washington for several months, twenty-six year old Alicia Cutter had only a vague idea what was going on. Now a first lieutenant in the Women's Army Corps, it seemed only yesterday that she'd been teaching music and art at a private high school for the daughters of wealthy families outside of Philadelphia. A recruiter for the government said that people with musical skills and knowledge were needed. Only later did she realize that some musicians had an affinity to do well at code-breaking.
Alicia, unfortunately, did not. Thus, she was assigned duties as a courier where she supervised a small group of messengers, drivers and guards.
As always, she checked herself in the mirror. Her hair was combed flat, her uniform was baggy, hiding her slender figure, and she wore very little makeup. Good. She had learned to her sorrow that being very attractive, which she was, carried its own curse. Any success she achieved, either in school or as a musician, was attributed to her being pretty, rather than to her brain or her skills with the violin. That she'd slept her way to relative success was one of the kinder things she heard. She'd also been groped and pawed by classmates in high school and college along with professors who assumed she'd be willing to trade the proverbial lay for an A.
Having had enough of that nonsense, she'd made a point of dressing down and worked hard to look plain. She’d even gone so far as to try to gain weight and took to wearing horn rim glasses without any prescription. Her strategy had worked only tolerably well. Some of the military types, both at the camp and in the Pentagon, were unbelievably horny and, in the words of her roommate, would have screwed a female goat if they could find one. She considered the assessment both accurate and funny. Finally, she gave up, threw away the glasses, and went back to her normal weight. She’d felt bloated and the glasses gave her headaches.
She waved at the gate guards as her car exited the camp with the leather pouch carrying the day’s dispatches. She understood the problems the camp's staff was encountering. First, they had not yet broken any major German codes, despite the large number of Brits who had been working on the same thing for several years. Second, much of what they did was based on intercepted radio communications which were degraded because Virginia was so much farther away from continental Europe than England.
Alicia was accompanied by her driver, Corporal Wilkins, and her guard, Corporal Henry. It was Henry's first trip to Washington and he was looking out the front passenger window like a little kid, or even a dog. She wondered if he opened the window, would he stick his head out and let his tongue hang out?
"Henry, is this really your first time here?"
"Yes, ma'am."
Alicia checked her watch. She was stretched out as far as she could in the relative comfort of the back seat with the pouch on the seat beside her. "Wilkins, are you in any great hurry to get back to the excitement of Camp Washington?"
Wilkins laughed. "Not really, lieutenant."
"Great. Let's take the scenic route and let the nice young man see where all his tax dollars are going. I think the war can wait a half hour or so."
They unnecessarily crossed the Potomac and drove slowly around the sights of their nation's capital. Henry openly gawked and exclaimed and Alicia, who'd been there a number of times, admitted that the sight of the White House, Capitol, and so many other buildings of legend never ceased to thrill her. They did think it sad that there were so many guards around key places and that sandbag embankments and anti-aircraft guns intruded so jarringly on what had once been beautiful views. Another jarring sight was the pair of buildings that housed the navy. Named the Munitions Building and the Main Navy Building, they were ugly structures that had been built near the end of the World War I and intruded onto the elegance of the Mall.
There were a few dozen protesters walking around the park across from the White House and they were watched by D.C. police. They bore signs protesting the Nazis treatment of the Jews. Alicia couldn't help but wonder if all the horrors she'd heard were true. She didn't think they could be. Not even the Nazis could be that inhuman to their fellow man. Not even Hitler. He was a madman, but no one could be that murderous. It just wasn't possible. At least she hoped it wasn't, she thought with a shudder.
Finally, they drove back across the Potomac to the Pentagon. Corporal Henry hadn't seen that either. "Jesus ma'am, that is one huge building."
"That doesn't begin to describe it," Alicia said. Henry was from Nebraska and had admitted that the largest thing he'd ever seen before being drafted was a corn silo.
Dedicated earlier that year, the Pentagon was only four stories above ground, with an additional two under, but sprawled over an immense plot of ground next to Arlington National Cemetery. Close to thirty thousand military and civilian personnel worked in the five-ringed building that was so big that she'd seen a display where the Empire State Building could lie on top of its six and a half million square feet of space. Rumor had it that FDR thought it was hideous and couldn't wait for the war to be over so he could tear it down. Alicia didn’t think that would happen. The military had found a home.
Finally, and only a little behind schedule, they pulled into a Pentagon parking lot. They passed the guards and Alicia went towards her destination, while the two corporals headed off to find something to eat. As she walked the corridors, she felt small and unimportant. Admirals and generals walked by and didn't even look at her, except for one or two who assessed her femininity.
This was only her fourth trip to the Holy of Holies and she wondered what was in the locked pouch she carried. Was it all that important? If it was, wouldn't all those generals who were ignoring her be shocked that such documents were being hauled around by a lowly first lieutenant and a woman to boot.
"Jesus, chief, that thing looks fucking deadly."
"Marty, we are on duty this weekend. Would you please remember to call me Major?"
Staff sergeant and deputy sheriff Marty Dubinski shrugged. "Sorry, chief, I mean major, but look at that damn thing."
Canfield explained to his sergeant that the damn thing was a German E-Boat. A little bit larger than an American PT boat, the low-slung craft was capable of scooting along at more than forty miles an hour, had a crew of about twenty-five, and was armed to its deadly teeth with a 37mm cannon, and several 20mm guns along with a bunch of machine guns that the German crew had added. There was one torpedo tube on each side of its hull.
"Wasn't there a law prohibiting major warships on the Great Lakes?" Dubinski asked.
Canfield focused his binoculars. The German E-boat was a half mile offshore and moving sedately at about twenty knots, easily chopping through the foot high waves. It was already moving faster than most craft on Lake Ontario. It was also many miles inside what were considered American waters. Under other circumstances, the view would be both dramatic and pretty. This day it looked ugly and menacing.
Canfield put down the binoculars and rubbed his eyes. "I read someplace that the krauts don't consider E-boats to be major warships. They say they are just like our Coast Guard cutters or PT boats."
Dubinski snorted. "That is just so much bullshit, major. Look at them torpedo tubes. Those things can sink any ship in the world and that makes them E-boats major warships in my book. I think I should write Roosevelt."
"Do that," Canfield said resignedly. Marty was always writing letters to the editor, to his congressman, and anybody else who pissed him off, which was a whole lot of people. He also thought FDR was a commie.
"So why are they out there, chief?
At that moment, one of the E-boat's 20mm guns opened up, the strident sawing-sounding noise caused the two men to drop to the ground. A few seconds later they realized that the German wasn't shooting at them and they sheepishly got to their feet. They now had a nice view of the German's stern as it turned north towards Canada.
"Okay, major, let me rephrase the question. What are they doing out there and what the
hell were they shooting at?"
Canfield shook the dirt from his fatigues. "I think they were out there so close to our shore just to aggravate us. As to their shooting, I think it was also to annoy us and maybe they were getting in a little target practice. There might have been some driftwood or something that some dumb kraut thought would be good to shoot at. I just hope they didn't kill someone in the water, like some poor refugee."
There had been a significant increase in the number of people leaving Canada in the last few weeks, although only a few had left by boat. The border was open so they just packed up and crossed by car or bus. A high percentage of them were Jews who knew what was going on in Europe and who wanted to escape that awful fate. Canfield had been mildly surprised. He had no idea there were so many Jews actually in Canada, or that they were so frightened. So far, the Nazis had been letting anyone who wanted to leave go in peace, but how long would that continue? If the Germans would shoot at someone like that Grant fellow, they must have something to hide. He decided it wouldn't be long before the border was closed, and then they'd all have their hands full with refugees in boats and Germans trying to kill them.
Damn it, he thought. Life was so much simpler when all he had to worry about was the Depression and people smuggling whiskey into the U.S. before prohibition was repealed. Maybe the next time they drew duty, they'd make sure they had something more lethal than M1 rifles and.30 caliber machine guns to defend the State of New York from German warships.
"How's your arm, colonel?"
Grant winced and shifted his arm in its sling. "Actually, sergeant major, it hurts a hell of a lot more now since I let the medical staff fix it."
Sergeant Major Mort Farnum laughed. He was a short barrel of a man who'd been in the army for more than twenty years. Nobody, either enlisted or officer, wanted to get on his bad side. So far, Tom had done nothing to annoy the sergeant major.
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