*
Afterword
When one sees Hitler's December 1943 peace settlement offer, it's tempting to consider the list and forget the record of the man making those promises. On their face, many of these items would be very crippling to the Third Reich. They suggest that Hitler was willing to go very far. One could easily imagine adding the saving of millions of Jews to the list. But it is doubtful that Hitler would have lived up to such agreements any longer than he considered necessary. This book speculates that he would not.
I've tried to make this book as historically accurate as possible. Epigraph quotes and dates at the start of each chapter are all authentic, and the dates given are as originally printed or when first spoken.
The quotes at the start of chapters 4 and 17 were translations found at the German Propaganda Archive by Dr. Randall Bytwerk at Calvin College [www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/], and used with permission. It's an invaluable resource to get far more than a glimpse of the period.
Although the Tuskegee airmen were real, the characters in this book are not based on anyone in particular. For those who did not know, the Tuskegee airmen were so named because they first trained at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. I should not need to explain that 1944 was not the most tolerant time in U.S. history, or any country's history. These men had to put up with the racism of the day, and fight a war besides. But I didn't want this book to be about racism. This is a story about heroism.
It's a valid question whether Nazis could drop the racial elements of their ideology after a number of generations. If they didn't, it's impossible for such a society to be capable of world conquest. At the time, the Nazis themselves were perfectly willing to make alliances with other cultures and races whenever it suited them.
Dale's background explanation for this — while unreliable, and told from a Nazi point-of-view — is mostly true. The Waffen-SS was, indeed, mostly non-German troops. Their stories are not as simple as this, but that is another matter.
Many of Dale's pontifications and distorted history lessons are either based on real history or things the Nazis and their apologists might have said at that time, regardless of whether or not it was factual. As such, everything Dale says in this book needs to be taken with more than a grain of salt. For example, her words calling Germany “the first country in Europe to overcome the class struggle” is actually from a quote by Robert Ley, leader of the Nazis' German Labor Front. Because of the war and the Holocaust, people don't usually think of Nazism's social side, but it had a strong one. Dale's phrase “oligarchs of wealth” is actually from Father Charles Coughlin.
I quoted Father Coughlin (here and here) because his was an American voice of the times, and he is often thought of today as a Nazi apologist. In spite of some critical differences, I do imagine that, had the Nazi ideology ever become dominant worldwide, his influence might have become part of the American blend.
While Dale was obviously lying about the Holocaust, it is true that a small percentage of the victims did die from typhus, notably among them were Anne and Margot Frank.
Although it's certainly true that the Nazis worked restlessly to kill Jews up to the last minute, the largest numbers were killed in 1942 and 1943. McHenry never really had a chance of stopping it, although I do regret myself not being clever enough to write a better attempt.
It was true that there were labor strikes in the U.S. and U.K. during the war, and that this sometimes included strikes at war plants. People today like to think that everyone supported the war effort back then, but that does not mean their support came without bumps in the road. These were sometimes really bad bumps. Yet, as McHenry surmised, those strikes didn't substantively affect supplies for those fighting at the front.
There's no denying that this book was influenced by today's events. Only some of that is intentional. Most references to the peace movement, and Dale's anti-war stance, were with 1944 in mind. Various elements really were like that. Some did accuse President Roosevelt of waging war for imperialism and for Wall Street.
The U.S. government reacted with congressional hearings of the same type used for communists in the 1930s and — more famously — in the 1950s. The Justice Department put several dozen on trial, as is briefly mentioned in the epigraph at the top of chapter 21.
I know that I've left holes in the backstory. Some would say that Vice President Wallace had communists on his staff who would have pressed him to keep supporting the war while the Soviet Union was in it. To that I say, maybe, but 1944 was an election year. Even those communists would have preferred a Wallace victory to his Republican challenger. And besides, Wallace hated the British Empire. It would have been a more difficult alliance.
Others would argue that the Soviet Union would not have given up after their victories in 1943, even if everyone else did. Dale shrugs this off when McHenry brings it up. In reality, there were several ways this could have worked out, particularly with the Allied bombing campaign out of the picture once the U.S. and the U.K. decided to stand down. The Soviets had not developed that capacity until after the war. I'll agree there must be more to it than that, but this book was focused on Sam McHenry and the United States. And, really, had this book's scenario actually occurred, you could expect the Grauen to have surreptitiously aided Germany on the Eastern Front just as they had in Normandy.
— R.M.B.
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Appendix 1
Reported Peace Settlement Offer of December 1943
Eventual evacuation by Germany of all occupied and conquered territory, including Czechoslovakia.
Abandonment of all German claims to colonies.
Ultimate disestablishment of the German navy.
Germany to retain no merchant navy as such but to reach an agreement with Britain regarding German overseas shipments.
Abolition of Nazi propaganda abroad.
An agreement with the Allies on civil aviation.
Germany ultimately to cease maintenance of an air force.
Germany to remain always in close consultation with Britain on matters concerning common defense interests.
Source: Associated Press, (April 17, 1944)
Note: This peace offer was not extended to the Soviet Union.
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Appendix 2
Table of SS, Luftwaffe and U.S. Army ranks in 1944
SS Luftwaffe U.S. Army
Officer ranks
Reichsführer-SS[1] Generalfeldmarschall General of the Army[2]
Oberstgruppenführer Generaloberst General
Obergruppenführer General Lieutenant General
Gruppenführer Generalleutnant Major General
Brigadeführer Generalmajor Brigadier General
Oberführer (none) (none)
Standartenführer Oberst Colonel
Obersturmbannführer Oberstleutnant Lieutenant Colonel
Sturmbannführer Major Major
Hauptsturmführer Hauptmann Captain
Obersturmführer Oberleutnant First Lieutenant
Untersturmführer Leutnant Second Lieutenant
NCO ranks
Sturmscharführer (Waffen-SS only) Stabsfeldwebel Sergeant Major
Hauptscharführer Oberfeldwebel Master Sergeant
Oberscharführer Feldwebel Sergeant First Class
Scharführer Unterfeldwebel Staff Sergeant
Unterscharführer Unteroffizier Sergeant
Enlisted ranks
Rottenführer Obergefreiter Corporal
Sturmmann Gefreiter Private First Class
Obermann
Oberschütze (Waffen-SS)[3] Obersoldat[3] (none)
Mann
Schütze (Waffen-SS) Flieger Private
Anwärter (Candidate) (none) (none)
Bewerber (none) (none)
Reichsführer-SS was both an office and a rank held by only one person at a time. Heinrich Himmler held this post from 1929 to 1945.
The rank of General of the Army, as a five-star general, was not created until December 14
, 1944 by act of Congress.
Oberschütze and Obersoldat were specialist ranks used by the Heer (Army) and ground forces of the Luftwaffe. It was divided into specialties, Oberkanonier, Obergrenadier, Oberpionier, Oberfahrer and Oberfunker. In the real world, this level was abolished when ranks were standardized with NATO.
One Thousand Years Page 21
