'Even the condemned man is entitled to a last cigarette, Herr Reichsfuhrer.'
Himmler actually smiled, which was quite something considering that tobacco was one of his pet aversions. 'Why not?' He waved a hand. 'They told me you were a brave man, Herr Oberst. You earned your Knight's Cross during the Winter War?'
'That's right, Herr Reichsfuhrer.' Radl got his cigarette case out, one-handed, and opened it deftly.
'And have worked for Admiral Canaris ever since?'
Radl waited, smoking his cigarette, trying to make it last while Himmler stared down at the briefcase again. The room was really quite pleasant in the shaded light. An open fire burned brightly and above it there was an autographed picture of the Fuhrer in a gilt frame.
Himmler said, 'There is not much that happens at the Tirpitz Ufer these days that I don't know about. Does that surprise you? For example, I am aware that on the twenty-second of this month you were shown a routine report from an Abwehr agent in England, a Mrs. Joanna Grey, in which the magic name of Winston Churchill figured.'
'Herr Reichsfuhrer, I don't know what to say,' Radl told him.
'Even more fascinating, you had all her files transferred from Abwehr One into your custody, and relieved Captain Meyer, who had been this lady's link man for many years, of duty. I understand he's most upset.' Himmler placed a hand on the briefcase 'Come, Herr Oberst, we're too old to play games You know what I'm talking about. Now, what have you got to tell me.'
Max Radl was a realist. He had no choice at all in the matter He said, 'In the briefcase, the Reichsfuhrer will find all that there is to know except for one item.'
'The court martial papers of Lieutenant-Colonel Kurt Steiner of the Parachute Regiment?' Himmler picked up the top file from the pile at the side of his desk and handed it over 'A fair exchange I suggest you read it outside.' He opened the briefcase and started to extract the contents 'I'll send for you when I need you.'
Radl almost raised his arm, but one last stubborn gram of self-respect turned it into a smart, if conventional salute. He turned on his heel, opened the door and went out into the anteroom.
Rossman sprawled in an easy chair reading a copy of Signal, the Wehrmacht magazine He glanced up in surprise Leaving us already?'
'No such luck,' Radl dropped the file on to a low coffee table and started to unbuckle his belt 'It seems I've got some reading to do.'
Rossman smiled amiably. 'I'll see if I can find us some coffee. It looks to me as if you could be with us for quite some time'
He went out and Radl lit another cigarette, sat down and opened the file
.
The date chosen for the final erasing of the Warsaw Ghetto from the face of the earth was the 19th April. Hitler's birthday was on the 20th and Himmler hoped to present him with the good news as a suitable present. Unfortunately when the commander of the operation, SS OberFuhrer von Sammern-Frankenegg and his men marched in, they were chased out again by the Jewish Combat Organization, under the command of Mordechai Amelewicz.
Himmler immediately replaced him with SS Brigadefuhrer and Major-General of Police, Jurgen Stroop, who, aided by a mixed force of SS and renegade Poles and Ukrainians, applied himself seriously to the task in hand to leave not one brick standing, not one Jew alive. To be able to report to Himmler personally that The Warsaw Ghetto is no more. It took him twenty-eight days to accomplish.
Steiner and his men arrived in Warsaw on the morning of the Thirteenth Day on a hospital train from the Eastern Front bound for Berlin. There was a stopover time of between one to two hours, depending on how long it took to rectify a fault in the engine's cooling system, and orders were broadcast over the loudspeaker that no one was to leave the station. There were military police on the entrances to see that the order was obeyed.
Most of his men stayed inside the coach, but Steiner got out to stretch his legs and Ritter Neumann joined him. Steiner's jump boots were worn through, his leather coat had definitely seen better days and he was wearing a soiled white scarf and sidecap of a type more common amongst NCOs than officers
The military policeman guarding the main entrance held his rifle across his chest in both hands and said roughly. 'You heard the order, didn't you? Get back in there!'
'It would seem they want to keep us under wraps for some reason, Herr Oberst,' Neumann said.
The military policeman's jaw dropped and he came to attention hurriedly 'I ask the Herr Oberst's pardon I didn't realize.'
There was a quick step behind them and a harsh voice demanded, 'Schultz-what's all this about?'
Steiner and Neumann ignored it and stepped outside. A pall of black smoke hung over the city, there was a crump of artillery in the distance, the rattle of small arms fire. A hand on Steiner's shoulder spun him round and he found himself facing an immaculately uniformed major. Around his neck was suspended on a chain the gleaming brass gorget plate of the military police Steiner sighed and pulled away the white scarf at his neck exposing not only the collar patches of his rank, but also the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves for a second award.
'Steiner,' he said. 'Parachute Regiment.'
The major saluted politely, but only because he had to 'I'm sorry, Herr Oberst, but orders are orders'
'What's your name?' Steiner demanded.
There was an edge to the colonel's voice now in spite of the lazy smile, that hinted at the possibility of a little unpleasantness 'Otto Frank, Herr Oberst'
'Good, now that we've established that, would you be kind enough to explain exactly what's going on here? I thought the Polish Army surrendered in thirty-nine?'
'They are razing the Warsaw Ghetto to the ground,' Frank said
'Who is?'
'A special task force SS and various other groups commanded by Brigadefuhrer Jurgen Stroop Jewish bandits, Herr Oberst. They've been fighting from house to house, in the cellars in the sewers, for thirteen days now. So we're burning them out Best way to exterminate lice.'
During convalescent leave after being wounded at Leningrad, Steiner had visited his father in France and had found him considerably changed. The General had had his doubts about the new order for some considerable time. Six months earlier he had visited a concentration camp at Auschwitz in Poland.
'The commander was a swine named Rudolf Hoess, Kurt Would you believe it a murderer serving a life sentence and released from gaol in the amnesty of nineteen-twenty-eight He was killing Jews by the thousand in specially constructed gas chambers, disposing of their bodies in huge ovens. After extracting such minor items as gold teeth and so forth!'
The old general had been drunk by then and yet not drunk 'Is this what we're fighting for, Kurt? To protect swine like Hoess? And what will the rest of the world say when the time comes? That we are all guilty? That Germany is guilty because we stood by? Decent and honourable men stood by and did nothing? Well not me, by God I couldn't live with myself!'
Standing there in the entrace to Warsaw Station, the memory of all this welling up inside, Kurt Steiner produced an expression on his face that sent the major back a couple of steps 'That's better,' Steiner said, 'and if you could make it downwind as well I d be obliged.'
Major Frank's look of astonishment quickly turned to anger as Steiner walked past him, Neumann at his side 'Easy, Herr Oberst Easy,' Neumann said.
On the platform at the other side of the track, a group of SS were herding a line of ragged and filthy human beings against a wall It was virtually impossible to differentiate between the sexes and as Steiner watched, they all started to take their clothes off.
A military policeman stood on the edge of the platform watching and Steiner said, 'What's going on over there?'
'Jews, Herr Oberst,' the man replied This morning's crop from the Ghetto. They'll be shipped out to Treblinka to finish them off later today They make them strip like that before a search mainly because of the women. Some of them have been carrying loaded pistols inside their pants.'
There was brutal laughter from across the t
rack and someone cried out in pain. Steiner turned to Neumann in disgust and found the lieutenant staring along the platform to the rear of the troop train. A young girl of perhaps fourteen or fifteen, with ragged hair and smoke-blackened face, wearing a cut-down man's overcoat tied with string, crouched under a coach. She had presumably slipped away from the group opposite and her intention was obviously to make a bid for freedom by riding the rods under the hospital train when it pulled out.
In the same moment the military policeman on the edge of the platform saw her and raised the alarm, jumping down on to the track and grabbing for her She screamed, twisting from his grasp, scrambled up to the platform and ran for the entrance, straight into the arms of Major of Police Frank as he came out of his office.
He had her by the hair and shook her like a rat. 'Dirty little Jew bitch I'll teach you some manners.'
Steiner started forward, 'No Herr Oberst!' Neumann said, but he was too late
Steiner got a firm grip on Frank's collar, pulling him off balance so that he almost fell down grabbed the girl by the hand and stood her behind him.
Major Frank scrambled to his feet, his face contorted with rage. His hand went to the Walther in the holster at his belt, but Steiner produced a Luger from the pocket of his leather coat and touched him between the eyes. 'You do,' he said, 'and I'll blow your head off. Come to think of it, I'd be doing humanity a favour.'
At least a dozen military policemen ran forward, some carrying machine pistols, others rifles and paused in a semi-circle three or four yards away. A tall sergeant aimed his rifle and Steiner got a hand in Frank's tunic and held him close, screwing the barrel of the Luger in hard.
'I wouldn't advise it.'
An engine coasted through the station at five or six miles an hour hauling a line of open wagons loaded with coal. Steiner said to the girl without looking at her, 'What's your name, child?'
'Brana,' she told him. 'Brana Lezemnikof.'
'Well, Brana,' he said, 'if you're half the girl I think you are, you'll grab hold of one of those coal trucks and hang on till you're out of here. The best I can do for you.' She was gone in a flash and he raised his voice. 'Anyone takes a shot at her puts one in the major here as well.'
The girl jumped for one of the trucks, secured a grip and pulled herself up between two of them. The train coasted out of the station. There was complete silence.
Frank said, 'They'll have her off at the first station, I'll see to it personally.'
Steiner pushed him away and pocketed his Luger. Immediately the military policemen closed in and Ritter Neumann called out, 'Not today, gentlemen.'
Steiner turned and found the lieutenant holding an MP-40 machine pistol. The rest of his men were ranged behind him, all armed to the teeth.
At that point, anything might have happened, had it not been for a sudden disturbance in the main entrance. A group of SS stormed in, rifles at the ready. They took up position in a V formation and a moment later, SS Brigadefuhrer and Major-General of Police Jurgen Stroop entered, flanked by three or four SS officers of varying ranks, all carrying drawn pistols. He wore a field cap and service uniform and looked surprisingly nondescript.
'What's going on here, Frank?'
'Ask him, Herr Brigadefuhrer,' Frank said, his face twisted with rage. 'This man, an officer of the German Army, has just allowed a Jewish terrorist to escape.'
Stroop looked Steiner over, noting the rank badges and the Knight's Cross plus the Oak Leaves, 'Who are you?' he demanded.
'Kurt Steiner - Parachute Regiment,' Steiner told him, 'And who might you be?'
Jurgen Stroop was never known to lose his temper. He said calmly, 'You can't talk to me like that, Herr Oberst. I'm a Major-General as you very well know.'
'So is my father,' Steiner told him, 'so I'm not particularly impressed. However, as you've raised the matter, are you Brigadefuhrer Stroop, the man in charge of the slaughter out there?'
'I am in command here, yes.'
Steiner wrinkled his nose. 'I rather thought you might be. You know what you remind me of?'
'No, Herr Oberst,' Stroop said. 'Do tell me.'
'The kind of thing I occasionally pick up on my shoe in the gutter,' Steiner said. 'Very unpleasant on a hot day.'
Jurgen Stroop, still icy calm, held out his hand. Steiner sighed, took the Luger from his pocket and handed it across. He looked over his shoulder to his men. 'That's it, boys, stand down.' He turned back to Stroop. 'They feel a certain loyalty for some reason unknown to me. Is there any chance you could content yourself with me and overlook their part in this thing?'
'Not the slightest,' Brigadefuhrer Jurgen Stroop told him.
'That's what I thought,' Steiner said. 'I pride myself I can
always tell a thoroughgoing bastard when I see one.'
.
Radl sat with the file on his knee for a long time after he'd finished reading the account of the court martial. Steiner had been lucky to escape execution but his father's influence would have helped and after all, he and his men were war heroes. Bad for morale to have to shoot a holder of the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves. And Operation Swordfish, in the Channel Islands, was just as certain in the long run for all of them. A stroke of genius on somebody's part.
Rossman sprawled in the chair opposite, apparently asleep, the black slouch hat tipped over his eyes, but when the light at the door flashed, he was on his feet. He went straight in without knocking and was back in a moment.
'He wants you.'
The Reichsfuhrer was still seated behind the desk He now had the ordnance survey map spread out in front of him. He looked up 'And what did you make of friend Steiner's little escapade in Warsaw?'
'A remarkable story,' Radl said carefully 'An - an unusual man.'
'I would say one of the bravest you are ever likely to encounter,' Himmler said calmly 'Gifted with high intelligence, courageous ruthless, a brilliant soldier - and a romantic fool I can only imagine that to be the American half of him.' The Reichsfuhrer shook his head. The Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves After that Russian affair the Fuhrer had asked to meet him personally. And what does he do? Throws it all away, career, future, everything, for the sake of a little Jewish bitch he'd never clapped eyes on in his life before.'
He looked up at Radl as if waiting for a reply and Radl said lamely, 'Extraordinary, Herr Reichsfuhrer.'
Himmler nodded and then, as if dismissing the subject completely, rubbed his hands together and leaned over the map 'The Grey woman's reports are really quite brilliant. An outstanding agent.' He leaned down, eyes very close to the map 'Will it work?'
'I think so,' Radl replied without hesitation
'And the Admiral?' What does the Admiral think?'
Radl's mind raced as he tried to frame a suitable reply. 'That's a difficult question to answer.'
Himmler sat back, hands folded. For a wild moment Radl felt as if he were back in short trousers and in front of his old village schoolmaster.
'You don't need to tell me, I think I can guess I admire loyalty but in this case you would do well to remember that loyalty to Germany, to your Fuhrer, comes first.'
'Naturally, Herr Reichsfuhrer,' Radl said hastily
'Unfortunately there are those who would not agree,' Himmler went on 'Subversive elements at every level in our society Even amongst the generals of the High Command itself. Does that surprise you?'
Radl, genuinely astonished, said, 'But Herr Reichsfuhrer, I can hardly believe...'
'That men who have taken an oath of personal loyalty to the Fuhrer can behave in such a dastardly fashion?' He shook his head almost sadly. 'I have every reason to believe that in March of this year, high ranking officers of the Wehrmacht placed a bomb on the Fuhrer's plane, set to explode during its flight from Smolensk to Rastenburg.'
'God in heaven,' Radl said.
The bomb failed to explode and was removed by the individuals concerned later Of course it makes one realize more strongly than ever that we cannot fail, th
at ultimate victory must be ours. That the Fuhrer was saved by some divine intervention seems obvious That doesn't surprise me of course I have always believed that some higher being is behind nature, don't you agree?'
'Of course, Herr Reichsfuhrer,' Radl said.
'Yes, if we refused to recognize that we would be no better than Marxists I insist that all members of the SS believe in God.' He removed his pince-nez for a moment and stroked the bridge of his nose gently with one finger. 'So, traitors everywhere In the Army and in the Navy, too, at the highest level.'
Jack Higgins - Eagle Has Landed Page 8
