The German Peace

by Derek Pennington

  “However,” he saw the Prince’s eyebrows lift slightly in positive anticipation, “there has been a something of a precedent in the past. At the request of the Chinese Government, Germany helped that country with military aid, including a small number of military advisers. This was agreed specifically to help the Chinese leader eliminate the threat of a communist takeover in his country. This was the major factor in persuading us to provide assistance in 1941.

  A slightly lesser consideration was that such aid would also give the Chinese forces the ability to fight Japanese aggression and thus force the Japanese to the negotiating table. We wanted to avoid the possibility of their war escalating out of control and drawing in the United States and the European powers with colonial empires.

  While I shudder at the thought of becoming involved in the melting pot of factions and nations that is, unfortunately, Yugoslavia today, I believe that if the problem is not resolved, and quickly, a nightmare situation could unfold in your country. Our intelligence services have reported threats of ‘ethnic cleansing’ being uttered by certain leaders. Conflict within your own borders will inevitably impact on the neighbouring European countries. And this is perhaps something the European Alliance should give some serious thought to.”

  He hesitated for a moment longer.

  “I am prepared to bring this matter up for immediate discussion at the meeting of the Governing Council tomorrow. You must realise that even if the Council agrees with your plan they cannot speak for the European Alliance, they can only recommend. Also, because the envisaged operation is not a defensive one, it would require the unanimous agreement of all Alliance members.

  Do you have any idea of the number of troops that may be needed, and for how long?”

  “My Chief-of-Police, who is an old and trusted retainer, using our proposed frontier changes, calculated around thirty thousand. Probably for a period of between three months and six months.”

  “Very well. I will be able to advise you of progress tomorrow afternoon. May I suggest that we meet here again at four o’clock in the afternoon? If there is a delay for any reason I will inform you.”

  Prince Paul realised that things had gone as well as he could reasonably have hoped, even if he had nothing definite as yet. He was deeply grateful that the old Baron had been so understanding.

  THE NEXT DAY

  The Governing Council debated the Yugoslavia question for two hours. The military members poured over maps and coastal charts to assess it from a military point of view. They were actually enjoying themselves! A military campaign was something they understood. In the end it was thought thirty thousand troops inside Yugoslavia would probably be sufficient, but the neighbouring Alliance countries would also have to reinforce their own border troops as a prudent precaution. Also the Alliance should introduce naval patrols off the island studded Yugoslav coast.

  Field Marshall von Brauchitsch suggested that the operation would be an interesting exercise in co-operation for the Alliance. It would also test their command structure and readiness for action.

  All agreed with von Altendorf that confronting the issue now was a wiser course of action than letting matters spiral out of control. A meeting of the full Alliance Council was requested for the following day.

  Prince Paul of Yugoslavia was accordingly informed by Baron von Altendorf.

  BELGRADE - MAY

  Two weeks after the European Alliance secretly approved the ‘Yugoslav peacekeeping action’ as it came to be known, the ‘occupation’ of Yugoslavia was complete. It had started only twenty four hours earlier, as Prince Paul was giving his opening speech at his partition conference.

  Informed of the reason for inviting the multinational force into the country, most of the population more or less accepted the position, even welcomed it in many cases, as the foreign troops were friendly and free spending compared to their own countrymen. The more extreme elements – which included most of the self-styled ‘local leaders’ - suffered impotent rage as the realised they had no real control over events and had been outmanoeuvred by their Prince.

  All attendees at the conference had been given copies of the provisional division of the country, and invited to make urgent but reasoned representations for any changes. They were warned that outrageous, frivolous, or nonsensical suggestions would simply be rejected out of hand and they should not waste anybody’s time with such ideas.

  Most of the petty or self-promoting politicians soon became resigned to an acceptance of the newly imposed fait accompli. It was a done deal. What could they do?

  All members of the Alliance had readily agreed on the need for intervention in this dysfunctional country. Indeed, Field Marshall Rommel had been pleasantly surprised by their enthusiastic compliance with his operational directives.

  Each member country was required to send a number of troops roughly in proportion to their country’s population. Most countries had exceeded this, being eager for their troops to gain experience, even it wasn’t actually war.

  At the insistence of Rommel, the German contribution to the peacekeeping force included a unit of soldiers of Czech extraction, and one of Slovaks. This was designed to demonstrate that they were considered to be truly integrated with their German speaking comrades. A golden opportunity to show unity.

  Prince Paul was now regent of Serbia only. An Act of dissolution of the state of Yugoslavia had already been approved and signed by the Yugoslav Regency Council. Peter, the son of the previous assassinated king, would soon be crowned Peter II of Serbia. The other six newly created countries had been presented with draft constitutions of their own for them to use or not use, as they saw fit. The Yugoslav monetary reserves had been deposited with the German Reserve Bank prior to being distributed between the seven countries on a proportional basis. Interim Prime Ministers had been appointed. They now had what they had wished for - independence. They were told to ‘Get on with it’.

  Prince Paul thought of the old maxim ‘Be careful what you wish for. You might get it’!

  Rommel humorously described himself as ‘the temporary Yugoslav dictator’ while acting as the Supreme Commander of the Alliance forces. There had been demonstrations, unrest, outbreaks of violence, and even disorganised attempts at invasion of each other’s territories by different disaffected groups. All had been dealt with firmly and with the minimum of casualties.

  The new borders were unceasingly patrolled, forcing the different ethnic people’s own interim governments to start issuing their own passports for those wishing to travel. Thus, in practice, each acknowledging the existence of the other new countries.

  There had been a spate of murders from the start, but under the firm hand of the European Alliance these had quickly declined in number. The worst atrocity that happened, involved a British corvette patrolling the Adriatic coast as part of the Alliance forces. At dawn one day they had come across a motor torpedo boat flying no flag, with its guns trained on an old rusty Croatian fishing vessel. On sighting the British ship, the MTB hurriedly recalled its sailors from aboard the fishing boat, pumped numerous shells into it, machine gunned the people on deck, and swiftly departed. Much too fast for the relatively slow corvette to catch it.

  The British stopped to help the stricken vessel which was sinking fast. They recovered only one wounded boy. Twenty three others were dead. They were guilty of being Montenegrin nationals taking passage from Croatia to Montenegro.

  Three months after the commencement of the operation, Rommel started to withdraw troops back to their home countries. By the end of November all Alliance troops were out of what used to be Yugoslavia. Casualties among Alliance personnel amounted to twenty two killed and fifty eight injured, one of whom had been unlucky enough to be run over by an ambulance from his own side!

  There was no doubt in anybody’s mind that without the peacekeeping force there would have been carnage throughout what had been Yugoslavia. The peacekeeping operation was considered to be an unqualified success. A ‘Yugo
slavia’ medal was awarded by the Alliance Supreme Command to each of the Alliance personnel who had taken part.

  Various European countries started establishing embassies, consulates, or some sort of diplomatic presence, in the new seven small countries, once the situation settled down. Some of them, including Germany, even arranged loans or other forms of aid to them, to stimulate their economies and promote stability. Things appeared to be working.

  Prince Paul was content with what he had achieved. As long as the new countries governed themselves tolerably well, he believed he had just eliminated the sole remaining danger of war in Europe outside of the Soviet Union.

  NURBURGRING - LATE JULY

  After winning the French Grand Prix in commanding style three weeks earlier, the Mercedes-Benz team were supremely confident of winning today’s German Grand Prix. They were running two new cars this year, instead of the pre-war cars used in 1944. However, as a gesture to Germany’s highly revered Field Marshall von Brauchitsch, his nephew Manfred had been given one of the older cars to drive. The Field Marshall was there to watch.

  The other German cars, the Auto-Unions, were the same old cars. No real development work, only tinkering, had been done of these since 1939. It was obvious that they were no longer the force they had previously been before the War.

  Alfa Romeo fielded a new and very fast car, driven once again by the immortal Nuvolari. Maserati had two new cars entered, both of which proved to be fast in the practice sessions.

  Three hours after the race started, the results were a surprise to many people. Mercedes were once again first and second, but one of their new cars driven by Caracciola, had suffered from mechanical problems and retired. It was Manfred von Brauchitsch who had followed Lang into second place.

  An even bigger surprise was the old man, (by grand prix racing standards), Nuvolari, bringing the Alfa Romeo across the finishing line in third place in front of the Auto Unions. There were red faces at Auto union. The Maseratis displayed reliability but not enough speed, and ended in sixth and seventh places.

  ENGLAND - 5 AUGUST

  The first British Grand Prix since 1938 was over. A huge crowd of enthusiasts had been there in the rain to watch. Amazingly the results were identical to those of the German Grand Prix held two weeks earlier. The only difference was that no third Mercedes had been entered, so it was Lang and Caracciola in first and second places.

  Everyone considered it sporting of Auto Union to continue to enter their now elderly cars, but did they have any plans for development? Auto Union made no comment.

  LONDON - 6 AUGUST

  Winston Churchill and Sir Anthony Eden were having an informal meeting about Indian Independence. Following his talk with the German Foreign Minister in February, the partition plan had been hurriedly re-evaluated and belatedly changed to separate what was to be Muslim Pakistan in the west, from Muslim Bengal, (or Bangladesh as the Bengalis were thinking of calling it), in the east.

  The Muslim League leaders had blustered and made all kinds of threats when they had been informed of this. As politicians they resented any loss of their personal power. An increasingly exasperated Eden had been forceful and left them with no alternative but to accept what was on offer.

  During the length of the actual independence process, the entire Indian Army, police force, and a large number of British troops would be stationed at strategic points and potential flashpoints, throughout the sub-continent. Of particular concern were the routes that would be taken by both Hindus and Muslims migrating from what had been their homes, but where they were a religious minority, to the alternative, supposedly welcoming, new country with the same religion. The bitter resentment on both sides could explode into fighting at the drop of a hat, (or turban).

  The British Government had been offered the loan of fifty Junker Ju52 transport aircraft, together with pilots, by the German Government to assist in ferrying troops and supplies during the expected hectic period. “Jolly decent of them”, muttered Eden in response to a similar approving comment by Churchill. The Royal Air Force still had a large fleet of transport aircraft despite downsizing since the end of the European War. However, they were going to be stretched by their operational commitments during the Indian independence schedule. Accordingly the offer from the Germans was kept open for the time being.

  The British troop presence had been boosted to one hundred thousand soldiers over the previous months. The Indian Army itself totalled four hundred and fifty thousand, of which about one third were Muslim. The Gurkha regiments had been transferred from the Indian Army to the British army. They came from Nepal which was outside India, and they expressed in no uncertain terms that they owed allegiance only to Great Britain.

  The movement of refugees had started in March, as soon as the details of partition had been announced. At first it was only a trickle, but the trickle soon became a deluge, especially in the two months immediately before the official date for independence on 15 August 1945. The total number displaced and on the move was uncountable, but was thought to be more than fifteen million people.

  It was inevitable that the inbred ‘communal hatred’ between the two religions would erupt into violence. This, in fact, happened repeatedly. Only the hard worked and flustered soldiers of both armies, together with the overstretched police, kept casualties from being horrific, instead of just ‘very high’. Even so, by the time the migrations started to diminish towards the end of August, it was estimated that about ninety thousand people had perished. It could have been much worse!

  Gradually the re-constituted Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi armies took control of their own borders and surrounding countryside. An uneasy peace settled on the areas where the opposing religions faced each other. For the time being, India’s internal troubles were over. Much to the relief of the British in London.

  WASHINGTON - LATE AUGUST

  President Truman had given a warm welcome to his guests, Field Marshall von Brauchitsch and Baron von Altendorf. Like his predecessor, he recognised the invaluable contribution made by Germany and the European Alliance to the current unprecedented peace and prosperity in Europe and around the world. The US intelligence service had also advised him that they suspected German involvement in the decision by France to relinquish direct control over most of its empire.

  The new President was every bit as jealous of the British and other European empires as previous American presidents had been. He took a more internationalist approach to world affairs and wanted his country to be less isolationist. He also understood the threat that Soviet communism had posed, and possibly still did, to the world. He appreciated just how much Germany had done to contain that threat.

  The United Nations concept had a champion in Truman. He had much to say on the subject, but nothing he said at their meeting could persuade the Germans that it would be any different to the failed League of Nations. They would not commit to joining. Neither were they prepared to recommend it to the other countries of the European Alliance. They could make their own decisions.

  Without Europe’s participation, Truman knew the United Nations would be an enfeebled organisation right from the start. Nevertheless he believed in it, he had made it his Administration’s project, and he intended to press on with it.

  The three day visit to the United States had cemented the ‘special relationship’ status between the USA and Germany. The same relationship that had long existed between Great Britain and the USA. Looked at objectively, Germany, Britain and its Empire, the European Alliance, and the United States of America, were the leaders of the entire world, linked by the British, German, USA special relationship.

  ITALY - SEPTEMBER

  Due to truly atrocious weather the Swiss Grand Prix had reluctantly been cancelled at the very last moment, three weeks earlier. This, the Italian Grand Prix was the last race of the season.

  In front of an ecstatic home crowd, their hero Nuvolari had driven a truly inspired race to finish second, only half a car le
ngth in front of the second Mercedes of Caracciola. To make it even more exciting for the Italian fans, Ascari had kept his Maserati in front of the two Auto Unions. This had been an electrifying race and was the best result for non-German cars in years. Even the German spectators had enjoyed this race.

  Herman Lang was once again European champion.

  VENICE - SEPTEMBER

  This was James’ first visit to Venice. He had instantly fallen in love with the ‘Queen of the Adriatic’. Even though he was incredibly busy at work, he had somehow found the time for a one week holiday here in this magical city, with Magda.

  He had procrastinated for the past year about what to do with his marriage. He was miserable when he was at home, and alive when he was with Magda. One good thing was that Fiona had stopped endlessly complaining about his absences. ‘Maybe she is settling down,’ he thought hopefully. Despite Fiona’s acquiescence, he knew he was being unfair on her. James was not a selfish person. He wanted do the right thing.