Impossible Nazi

by Ward Wagher

  The meeting continued for another hour. Schloss thought that entirely too many items requiring decisions still bubbled their way to the council. Turning an entire nation around was a Sisyphean task even with such capable people as Karl Rainer and Peter Schreiber to help. Even when things went well, he was tempted to discouragement.

  Schloss quietly clapped his hands together and rubbed them. “So, any other business?”

  “Were there any further reports from the Birmingham raid?” Ribbentrop asked.

  “Abwehr sources in England tell us there was no significant damage,” Gehlen said. “However….”

  “You look unsure, Reinhard,” Schloss said.

  “Herr Reich Chancellor, from the reaction of the English, I suspect we must have managed a very successful strike.”

  Goering was now studying the new head of the Abwehr. “That raises some uncomfortable questions about our sources in England.”

  “Yes, it does,” Gehlen stated forthrightly. “I have decided to isolate that string of operatives so we can try to discover if any or all of them have been turned.”

  “I think that is a very good idea,” Rainer said. “English counter-intelligence is fiendishly good at their jobs.”

  “So, what does that tell us about the raid?” Goering asked. “The last wave of bombers reported that the target was fully engulfed in fire. After the Abwehr people reported, I had assumed we missed the target and hit something else. I was disappointed.”

  Schloss glanced over at Rainer and shook his head minutely. “I think, meine Herren, we must develop some new resources in England. Perhaps if we are able to normalize relations that will be easier.”

  “Just as it will be easier for the English to infiltrate the continent,” Goering commented.

  “Well said, Herr Reichsmarshall,” Rainer said. “It’s like keeping the garden during a wet summer. You no sooner pull one weed than four others pop up.”

  “How quaint,” Peter commented. “I did not know you were a farmer at heart, Karl.”

  “Thank you very much, Peter,” Rainer replied sourly.

  Schloss laughed as he stood up. “With that, meine Herren, let us get on with the rest of our tasks for the day.”

  As the men left the room, Rainer walked over to Schloss. The Reich Chancellor looked at him with a raised eyebrow and a smile.

  “I agree we did not want to say anything about the resources I have in England,” Rainer said quietly.

  “I believe it is better to compartmentalize our sources,” Schloss replied. “Besides, I did not want to embarrass the Colonel. He has his hands full gaining full control of the Abwehr. He has developed some gold-plated sources in Russia. I think, given some time, that he will do the same in England. And he is starting to develop some good information from the United States.”

  Rainer gave him a strange look.

  “What?”

  “How can you know that Gehlen’s sources in Russia are that good?”

  Careful, Hennie. You almost slipped again.

  “Just that they seem to line up with everything else I have learned about the Russians. Stalin is growing less and less sane. As that happens, the people around him are maneuvering for advantage.”

  “And around Stalin, that is a very dangerous activity for the people involved.”

  “Right, Karl. We must watch the Russians very carefully. As Stalin grows more insane or insecure, he may decide that fishing in German affairs may distract the Russian people from their problems. I think their economy is falling apart. Gehlen knows that.”

  “It terrifies me to think of what would happen if we got into a war with Russia,” Rainer stated grimly. “It would be an existential exercise for us.”

  “And them, too. I fervently hope for an outbreak of sanity in the Kremlin.”

  “And I am glad you are paying attention to the Russians.”

  “One of the reasons for moving Ribbentrop into Commerce is that he and Molotov are cordial – or at least as cordial as one can be with a viper. I want to start buying critical raw materials from the Russians and stockpiling. As much as possible. If we get into a war with them, we will need it. If they just fall apart, it’ll kill the trade just as effectively.”

  “Do you think the Russians realize that?”

  “I imagine some of them do,” Schloss said. “But with Stalin’s questionable sanity, and Beria’s continued willingness to be his right hand, everyone is keeping their heads’ down.”

  “And I thought Germany was bad with Himmler,” Rainer commented.

  “Bad as it was, Karl, it is nothing like what the average Russian faces. It’s a good guess that Stalin murdered several tens of millions of people over the past ten years.”

  “I wish I had your sources of information,” Rainer said. “I don’t understand how you can know all this.”

  And you’ve almost done it again, you fool, Schloss said to himself. Rainer is absolutely the last person who needs to lose trust.

  “I’m not sure I can tell you how it works,” Schloss said with a smile. “I pick up this information in bits and pieces, and it seems to stay with me. Every once in a while, several items will come together and I have an epiphany.”

  “I suppose if God is talking to you, then, I shan't worry about the accuracy of what you are hearing.”

  Schloss laughed. “If God started talking to me, it would be one of the more remarkable occurrences of a remarkable life. It would serve to complicate something that is already complex.” And that is the absolute truth!

  “Very well. I suppose I need to get back to my own problems at the SS Headquarters.”

  “And Karl, make sure your sources in England keep an ear to the ground. I am very hopeful we can resolve things with the English. But it will be a dangerous time.”

  “As always, Herr Schloss, you are a master of understatement.”

  Schloss smiled and clapped Rainer on the shoulder. He then turned and walked out of the room. Rainer shook his head and marched towards the other door. He decided his challenges as the Reichsprotektor were small compared to what Schloss faced.

  § § §

  August 25, 1942; 2 AM

  7 Gabreillastrasse

  Swinemunde, Germany

  Wilhelm Canaris nodded at the cloaked figure at his door. “Jodl. Come in.”

  “Canaris,” Alfred Jodl replied.

  “Did anyone see you? No, of course not. Your message was devoid of content.”

  Jodl nodded. “It was. We must speak on a sensitive manner.”

  “Of course,” Canaris said ironically. “You would have otherwise bumped into me at the Gasthaus. Which, might have been a better idea.”

  “You are aware of course that Rainer is watching you.”

  “Oh, our Herr Rainer has made that very clear to me. My continued existence depends upon my good behavior and my spending my retirement quietly and not involving myself in the government.”

  “And is that your intention, Wilhelm?” Jodl asked. “To hide out here on the coast like a little sand mouse? Do you not serve the Reich?”

  “I am one man, Alfred...”

  “You are not,” Jodl said, raising his voice slightly. “Not everyone is delighted with Herr Schloss. There are people in the Wehrmacht, the Kriegsmarine, and the SS who see the need to return to the old ways.”

  “And what is driving you, Jodl?” Canaris pushed back. “What is making you scurry around like a rat in the darkness? Are you truly serving the Reich?”

  Canaris the cynic trusted no one, and Jodl had never been a friend. To have the Chief of Administration of the OKW, Keitel’s number two man out here in the middle of the night was a bit theatrical in his mind. The former intelligence chief was convinced it would have been better to bump into Jodl in the Gasthaus over a lager.

  “Schloss is pushing Fat Hermann to reorganize the high command. As you know, the OKW represents a bastion of sanity in the armed forces and the nation. The new leadership will be infected with Schloss's
defeatism. If he succeeds in getting a treaty out of the English, he will build down the army. Stalin is not going away, you know.”

  That the OKW represented sanity in the military was something Canaris was inclined to take with a grain of salt. During his time as head of Abwehr, he had observed that Jodl and his boss Keitel, in particular, were lapdogs for Hitler. The two men were more bent on enhancing their own positions and wealth than anything else.

  “What does Keitel say about this?”

  “What does Keitel say about anything?” Jodl spat. “If you need your boots licked, he is your man. He has never had an original thought in his life.”

  “What do you want?” Canaris probed.

  “We are going to stop the emasculation of the armed forces. We are going to remove the government and also that clown Goering. We need you back in the Abwehr. Gehlen is a broken reed.”

  “And when is this going to happen?”

  “Soon,” was Jodl’s reply. “We think before Yuletide. We have been able to forestall Goering so far. But, if Schloss loses patience, we will have to block him.”

  “This is risky, Alfred,” Canaris said.

  “Are you afraid of death, Canaris?” the general asked.

  “I assumed Rainer would put a bullet in my head. I would have if I had been him. I find, however, that I am enjoying my retirement.”

  “You really are as spineless as they say, aren’t you,” Jodl sneered.

  “Have you read Cervantes?” Canaris asked.

  Jodl stepped back slightly in surprise at the change of tack. “The Spanish scribbler? What of him?”

  “I am willing to accept risks. I took a grave risk when I confronted Schloss about the rumors of his being an impostor. I paid for that miscalculation. I won’t say no, Alfred. But, I will not tilt at windmills.”

  “Is that what you think this is?” Jodl demanded. “You do not think we know what we are doing?”

  “You tell me,” Canaris answered. “Schloss has yet to lose. He has the touch. He turns every threat around to his benefit. I made a bad mistake in going up against him. I am not saying I won’t support you, Alfred, but I think you do not have a healthy appreciation of the risks. Did you know Himmler tried to kill him at least three times?”

  “That is hard to believe. Himmler was very competent.”

  “Exactly. And Schloss beat Heydrich, too.”

  “That was Rainer.”

  “Schloss uses whatever tools fall to hand,” Canaris insisted.

  Jodl seemed to consider things for a few moments before speaking.

  “If we pull this off, Wilhelm, will you join us?”

  “If you pull this off, I will join you.”

  Jodl extended his hand to shake with Canaris. “Very well. We will be in touch.”

  “You will be in touch after Schloss is removed from the scene.”

  “Of course.”

  Jodl walked back to the door and eased into the night and disappeared. Canaris stared at the door for a long while. He hated Schloss, but he was still a realist. Schloss had been a huge improvement over Hitler. If Jodl lost, as Canaris suspected he would, the former spymaster would remain in his little cottage by the sea and enjoy retirement. If Jodl won, well, he would do his duty.

  Canaris wandered around the cottage and looked out the windows at the late summer night. It was pleasant here, and he was glad he had purchased the place. He pondered some more on the recent event, and then he then went to bed.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  August 25, 1942; 10 AM

  Stalag 100

  Near Cairo, Egypt

  Colonel Paul Grosce looked forward to his weekly ten o’clock meeting with General Montgomery. It supplied an interruption to the tedium of managing the POW camps and allowed him to think about something other than the incessant heat. Besides, he enjoyed his conversations with the Englishman. During the course of the summer, his new adjutant had arranged for the installation of a ceiling fan in his office. While it did little more than stir the hot air about, even the slightest movement of the air in the room was welcome.

  One of the benefits of command was that the mess crew kept several pitchers of water in the massive refrigerator that stored food for the prisoners as well as the guards. This allowed a steady supply of cold water to his office, which he now shared with the Englishman.

  “I must say, old chap, I really appreciate your generosity with the cold water. Although, I feel a bit guilty about sitting here under your fan and drinking this while the lads are making do with the warm water from the well.”

  Grosce smiled. “I understand your concerns, Herr General. In this case, my people pressed it upon me. I did not have the heart to refuse when they were so enthusiastic. I suspect your soldiers would not complain about a little bit of comfort that you are allowed.”

  “Nevertheless, I shall not say anything about it.” He laughed softly. “Under the circumstances, I would be hard-pressed to refuse your hospitality.”

  “You have heard, of course, that Prime Minister Churchill has requested a meeting with our Reich Chancellor.”

  “Yes, I had heard that. Somehow, a copy of the Times of London makes its roundabout way to me in three or four days after it hits the streets in Blighty. It is remarkable how well the mails work, in spite of the war.”

  “Are the mails arriving reliably, Herr General?” Grosce asked.

  “Yes. That was very good of you to ask the Red Cross to come in and supervise the mails.”

  “I was embarrassed at the actions of my people. The officer responsible was court-martialed and is now in prison. What was particularly galling was that we lined everyone up before we formed the camp and lectured to them the need to treat your people correctly.”

  The chair creaked as Montgomery leaned back. He a sip of the cold water. “Perhaps it is none of my business, but what possessed them to do something like that?”

  Grosce looked around his office for a moment before returning his attention to the British officer.

  “Reich Chancellor Schloss's administration has not been received with universal acclaim among some in the Nazi party. Major Horner’s sympathies were with this group. It is a relative minority of party members. They are centered around Munich in Germany. In fact, the Reichsprotektor calls them the Munich Faction. They have been difficult to identify and round up.”

  “I see,” Montgomery replied. “We have various factions in Her Majesty’s government. I suppose it should not surprise us that the same is also true in Germany. I had always thought of the Nazi party as being monolithic.”

  “Compared to what we had before in Germany, I suppose we are relatively monolithic,” Grosce admitted. “But, Herr Schloss's new policies towards the Jews, for example, were not met with universal praise.”

  “What do you think about those policies?” the Englishman asked.

  “There are a lot of Jews who are good Germans. It bothers me that we have forced a lot of them out of the country. However, Himmler and some of the others had made it very difficult for them. I suppose providing a home for them in Palestine is the best solution under the circumstances.”

  “Which brings me to a topic I needed to raise with you, Colonel.”

  “What might I help you with today, Herr General?”

  Montgomery always signaled the beginning of a negotiating session by becoming very formal. Grosce recognized the current tack and was willing to fit himself into the General’s methods.

  “I am a little uncomfortable with bringing this topic to you. As you may be aware, we have several hundred officers and enlisted who are Jewish. I received a delegation asking if I might request of you to give them a parole so that they might join their fellows in Palestine and engage in the fight for Judaea.”

  Now Grosce rocked back in his chair. “That is a surprise, Herr General. Something like that has never entered my mind until just now.”

  Montgomery responded with his trademark crooked grin. “I must say it presented quite
the surprise to me and my staff.”

  Grosce studied Montgomery for a few moments. “You really do not want to do this, do you?”

  “Now that I mention it, I do not. I am not unsympathetic to the aspirations of the Jewish people. They have their hands full right now in Palestine dealing with the sand fleas. But, I would need some guidance from Whitehall before I could agree to something like this. I do not think they would look kindly upon this.”

  “As you know, we would not normally look askance at anything that caused difficulty for Herr Churchill,” Grosce said. “However, I would need to consult with my government as well. With the upcoming talks, I am not sure of the reaction.”

  “With your permission, I thought I might tell them that you had to consult with Berlin. That would allow us to drag things out a bit here.”

  “Is this group apt to bypass you and come directly to me?” Grosce asked.

  “Colonel, I do not know. I would hope not. But, news of the establishment of Judaea has them very excited.”

  “That I can understand. Very well, I will consult with Berlin. With any luck at all, we will get a treaty between us, and we won’t have to deal with this problem. If you feel things are starting to get out of control, please come to me.”

  “Of course,” Montgomery said.

  § § §

  August 26, 1942; 4 PM

  The White House

  Washington, DC

  United States of America

  “Mr. President, thank you for seeing me so quickly,” Cordell Hull said as he was ushered into the Oval Office.

  “I’m sure you wouldn’t have had such urgency if the matter wasn’t important,” President Henry Wallace replied. “What can I help you with this afternoon, Mr. Secretary?”

  “I have received a communique from the German government requesting that you personally host the meeting between Reich Chancellor Schloss and Prime Minister Churchill.”

  Hull handed the president the envelope from the German embassy. Wallace pulled the single sheet of stationery from the parchment envelope and scanned it.