yesterdays war

by gerald hall

  “Alright, but I can’t hide in here forever. I am also worried about Dorothy and my children. They are out there somewhere.”

  “Don’t worry, Sir. I’m sure that our people will take care of them.”

  “Thank you, Thomas. It looks like a few of our police are beginning to arrive now. That should convince these blokes to keep their tempers under control. I better go out now and see what these people want.” Harold said.

  But before Harold walked out the door to meet with Terry Cowell, Harold slipped his Browning Hi-Power pistol into one of his pockets, just in case.

  “Good morning, gentlemen. How can I help you today? We are always in the market for good workers.” Harold said while smiling at the group of men in front of him.

  “We are here to demand that you give the men that work for you their fair share of the wealth that you have received as a result of their toil, Mister Cavill.” Terry demanded.

  “I already pay wages that are much more than fair to all of my employees. They and their families live better here than anywhere else in Australia. The vast majority of the funds that my companies have earned gets reinvested back into building more factories and upgrading existing facilities. That is completely normal for any business.” Harold tried to explain.

  “Harold Cavill, you are just another parasite, feeding off of the labor of others. You deserve none of this.”

  Harold tried to explain the situation without revealing his history, but the voices of the mob kept drowning his voice out. So Harold started to turn and walk back into the building. But he stopped when heard a particularly vile claim.

  “You are nothing more than a traitor who supports the Nazis in Germany, rather than the good white men here in Australia.” Terry accused loudly.

  Harold thought for a moment about the irony in Terry’s statement, especially since Terry’s views were much closer to the Nazis than Harold’s had ever been. The mob’s vocal approval of many Australian’s beloved ‘White Australia’ policy actually fit right in with the Nazis’ belief in Aryan racial purity.

  “No, Sir. That is not true at all. I am looking out for the best interests of all of the Australian people. I hate the Fascists as much as anyone here.” Harold said after turning back around.

  “But yet you give jobs to the Abos that should be going to white men. We are the real Australians who deserve the work, not those animals.” Terry asserted.

  Harold stood there, furious at the mob’s claim. But he was not nearly as angry as a tribal leader of the aborigines who had arrived in time to hear the racist rants of the mob. With the tribal leader, a squad of armed and uniformed militiamen also arrived. Harold recognized the tall dark-skinned chief as someone whose name he could never pronounce properly because of its length and complexity.

  “We are men, not animals. This man that you complain about has given us back our lives, our pride and our future. We will not give up that for the likes of fools like you. Don’t you see that he treats all of the people that work for him equally well regardless of the color of their skin?” The leader of the tribe loudly and firmly declared while his dark eyes glared at the mob.

  “I don’t care what you say. You are not our equals. It wasn’t all that long ago that all of you lived in caves and were dressed in little more than loincloths.” Terry continued to insist.

  “If we behave in a civilized manner, we are most certainly your equals. If we do the same job as well or better than you, we are most certainly your equals as well. We do all of these things and more. We now want to be treated as equals as well.” The elder countered.

  For several minutes, the two men argued while the mob anxiously waited, as did Harold. He was worried not only about himself and his employees, but also about his family who was supposed to be traveling into town at this time. Harold really wished that he had a mobile phone that he could use to warn Dorothy of the threat. But those wouldn’t be invented for many decades unfortunately.

  As Dorothy and her children were driving into town in the family truck, she saw the edge of the mob. It was clear that this was not a good place to be, Dorothy decided to immediately leave the area. Just as she was turning the truck around, she heard one of the members of the mob call out.

  “Hey, mates. That’s Cavill’s wife and kids! We can use them for leverage against him if we can catch them.”

  For a few moments, Dorothy and her children found themselves being boxed in and trapped on one small street. But the mob came to a sudden halt when it faced more than two hundred more militiamen armed with CR-1 assault rifles. The militiamen began to flood into the area and were even outnumbering the group of men who had been pursuing Deborah’s truck. The militiamen quickly surrounded Dorothy’s truck with a protective cordon before escorting her away from the mob.

  But there was another small group of rioters that was primarily composed of men who had previously worked for Harold’s companies in Derby. Chief among them was Billy McGuire, who still felt that he had a score to settle with Harold. All of the members of this group were armed with pistols and rifles.

  These men entered one of the nearby buildings and worked their way up to one of the windows overlooking the street where Harold and the others were standing. They could see from their vantage point that hundreds of militiamen, both white and aborigine, were pouring in. Most were armed and in uniform, but there were also just as many aborigines in civilian clothes coming into town either totally unarmed or carrying traditional aborigine weapons.

  Soon, the mob of interlopers found themselves both greatly outnumbered and outgunned. The expressions of rage on their faces were quickly turning to looks of horror. They were now the prey instead of the predators. This angered Billy even more as he looked upon the street.

  “I’m going to kill that greedy abo-loving bastard.” Billy bitterly said as he raised his rifle and pushed its muzzle out over the window sill.

  Billy fired his rifle at Harold and missed. Harold quickly dove for cover while everyone looked for where the shot came from. Before Billy could fire again, a fusillade of rifle fire from more than a dozen assault rifles rained in upon Billy and his compatriots.

  “Please stop firing for Heaven’s sake. We surrender. We surrender.” Was quickly heard coming from behind the window along with the screams of wounded men.

  A squad of heavily armed militiamen rushed into the building. A few minutes later, they started coming out carrying wounded rioters. Finally, a pair of militiamen carried out one last man. It was Billy McGuire, who had died almost instantly from several rifle rounds to the chest and head.

  “Oh, hell.” Harold grimly said when he saw the dead body being carried out of the building. The last thing that he needed was for someone to be killed here, especially at this time. He could already imagine the headlines of the newspapers in Sydney, especially after they learn that a white man was killed by an aborigine militiaman.

  After seeing the dead and wounded coming out of the building, the rest of the mob began to silently put up their hands in surrender.

  The next couple of hours saw the militiamen, both white and aborigine, herding the rioters out of Derby after disarming them. Then the members of the mob were forced back onto the ships that most of them had arrived on. Even the men who had arrived by train were also forced to board the ships. To ensure that the rioters would not attempt anything, the militiamen had the support of a platoon of newly built armored trucks armed with machine guns and six-pounder cannons. The chief figures in this attempt to disrupt Harold’s activities, Alexander, Tony and Terry, quietly hid themselves in the crowd. They did not want to be pointed out, especially not Alexander and Tony. They did not want their real origins to be discovered by Australian authorities.

  Dorothy and the kids were finally able to make it to Harold’s office. But this time, their truck was escorted by a squad of armed militiamen.

  “Thank God. Are all of you alright?” Harold quickly asked while hugging Dorothy.

  “Yes. It was
pretty scary for a few moments. But we got to safety with the aid of some of our militiamen. I am so very thankful that they were around to help.”

  “I’m very glad to that all of you are safe, dear. I guess that we are going to have to increase our security here in Derby. Whoever started this may try again. We need to be ready for that.

  But we have another, bigger concern as well. Obviously, there are others out there who support what these men were doing here. Some of them may even be politicians in our government. That man who died could end up becoming a martyr, even though he tried to kill me first.”

  “Do you think that you are going to need to talk to Minister Hughes, Sweetheart?” Dorothy asked.

  “I am hoping that all of this will be quickly forgotten. But you’re right, I may need Billy’s help in dealing with the aftermath of today’s events.”

  “Are you going to telephone him first, or are you only going to call him in the event that this problem begins to get more attention outside of Derby?”

  “I’m not sure. I don’t want to bother Minister Hughes about this if we don’t have to. But we do need to learn who exactly was behind this.”

  “Can he help?” Dorothy asked.

  “Maybe. But I would like to see if I can find some other sources of information first.”

  “You are going to look in your database?” Dorothy quietly asked.

  “I don’t think that it would help in this instance. We will have to find out additional information the old fashioned way. That means hiring some spies of our own, I think. We will also have to redouble our efforts with the politicians that we have sponsored. We will probably need all of the political cover that we can get before the war starts.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five: Chancellor’s Office, Reichstag Berlin, Germany

  September 21, 1938

  “I want you to immediately accelerate warship construction. We must be able to counter the Englander’s Navy.” Hitler toldGroßadmiralErich Raeder.

  “Herr Fuhrer, I am already drawing up plans for theKriegsmarine’sexpansion into a force that

  will rival any nation’s navy. I do have some significant concerns however. TheEnglander’shave made

  some unexpected moves with their own naval construction projects in the past few years. For several years, their politicians had been trying to induce the Americans and the Japanese to

  restrict the caliber of their new battleships to 356 millimeters. TheEnglanderpoliticians had done this to

  convince the other naval powers by planning to construct the newest generation of battleships with the

  smaller guns as a way to save money for the Royal Navy primarily.

  However, their Admiralty has significantly changed the design of what they call theirKing

  George the Fifthclass battleship. The first ship in that class now appears to be armed with nine 381

  millimeter guns in three triple turrets. These guns also appear to possibly be improved versions of the

  381 millimeter guns that are currently in use by most of their older capital ships.

  In addition, the new battleship design has a large number of medium-caliber secondary guns

  that appear to be capable of use against both surface ships and aircraft. This is different than the normal

  practice of most navies, including our own. This could cause significant problems for attacking aircraft.” “How far along are theEnglanderswith their construction of these battleships that worry you so

  much, Admiral?”

  “Herr Fuhrer, they must have already had plans for a ship with this arrangement of armament

  and characteristics. The lead ship in the class is projected to be commissioned in less than a year, with as

  many as four other ships in the class under construction currently.

  Admiral Canaris has told me that hisAbwehrintelligence operatives have put considerable

  efforts in determining the capabilities of these new battleships. They are also examining other disturbing

  aspects of what theEnglandersare doing to modernize their military, especially their navy. This includes

  the reconstruction of all of their faster capital ships. They are even retaining and modernizing the battle

  cruiser HMSTigerthat had been originally scheduled for scrapping. This could cause significant

  problems for our surface raiders, even thePanzerschiff. The English navy could then chase down and

  destroy even thePanzershiff Graf Speewith their growing fleet of fast capital ships.” “TheEnglandersare led by sheep who have little stomach for renewed conflict and even fewer

  resources after the financial collapse that has devastated so many European economies during the past

  decade. Obviously, someone else is involved in what they are doing here.

  “Admiral Canaris believes that former First Sea Lord Churchill is somehow involved. He has

  received direct reports from his sources in England that Churchill had arranged for the sale of one of the

  Englanders’overage slow battleships to Chile, then convinced the naval leadership to use the proceeds

  from the sale to finance the capital ship reconstructions.”

  “Churchill is certainly a ram amongst England’s many sheep there. But my understanding is that

  his prestige is rather lacking among many of his fellowEnglanders. He has made some very unpopular

  political decisions among their political elite during the past few years.” Hitler mused out loud. “Admiral Canaris believes that Churchill has now found a powerful patron named Harold Cavill.

  This man helping Churchill is quite wealthy and powerful. But this man is not from England. Instead,

  Churchill’s new patron is from Australia, one of the other nations of the British Commonwealth. There

  has certainly been a shift in England’s national politics as a result of this man’s influence. He has helped

  several politicians, with views similar to Churchill’s, be elected to their House of Commons. As a result,

  England is spending more money on rearmament, much like we are. They also appear to be spending it

  more effectively as well.”

  “Do we know anything else about Churchill’s patron?”

  “Like you and I, Harold Cavill appears to have no love for the Bolsheviks. On the other hand, I

  don’t believe that he likes the National Socialists much better. So I do not believe that he would help us

  with Churchill. In fact, his association with Churchill would indicate that this new patron would likely be

  quite hostile to National Socialism.

  He is not necessarily hostile to the German people though. He has hired dozens of Germans to

  work at his factories in Australia as engineers and technicians. This is in addition to the Americans,

  Englandersand other Europeans that work alongside his indigenous workers. This has causedHerrCavill

  some problems in the past few months because of the racism of many Anglo-Australians.” “Have Admiral Canaris keep a close eye on this new friend of Churchill. Perhaps he may be of

  use to us in some way. If not, it may be necessary for us to eliminate him.”

  “Jawohl, Herr Fuhrer. I will inform Admiral Canaris of your instructions. In any event, I will still

  need more resources to be able build a navy capable of threatening theEnglanders, especially after

  what has been learned about their new ships and other rearmament programs.”

  “I assure you, sufficient resources will be made available to theKriegsmarineafter you show me

  your plans for making it the most powerful navy in the world. Until then, theWehrmachtandLuftwaffe

  will continue to have priority over production. They already have shown me what they are going to do to

  demonstrate superior German power on the land and in the air.”

  “Jawohl, Herr Fuhrer. But I must advise you that even with the necess
ary resources, the

  Kriegsmarinewill not be able to field a proper force that can truly face theEnglandersprior to 1946.” “You will have the time that you need to build your ships,Großadmiral, I promise.” Hitler

  replied.

  Of course, Hitler had no intention of honoring that promise. He would strike at his enemies at a

  time and place of his own choosing, regardless of any promises made to his subordinates. But for now,

  he has been quite successful in following his own instincts and ignoring the advice of the ‘old guard’. For Hitler, it was all about the land battle. He looked upon a large map on the wall depicting all

  of Europe and the Soviet Union. In Hitler’s grand vision, the Wehrmacht would be sweeping over the

  vast plains of the Ukraine and eastern Russia, crushing its opponents at will while the Luftwaffe struck

  from the air to devastate the enemy’s reserves. The German Navy would be of little use in the war that

  Hitler envisioned.

  Hitler still remembered how the Imperial German Navy mutinied near the end of the First World

  War when ordered to sortie against the British Royal Navy. In Hitler’s mind, that stain of cowardice

  meant that the Navy could not be completely trusted to do its part for the Fatherland and the German

  people in the coming struggle against the Bolsheviks, the Jews and the rest of the enemies of the Aryan

  race. In fact, theKriegsmarinewas so full of Jewish officers that they zealously protected their own,

  Hitler noted with anger.

  The vast amount of resources needed to build even one battleship could build hundreds of tanks

  and artillery pieces. Hitler had already seen what modern armor could do on the ground with the

  German contribution to the Spanish Civil War. Similarly, the Condor Legion, a heavy contribution of

  forces from theLuftwaffe, had provided valuable support to Republican forces and their allies. “No.” Hitler thought to himself. “TheKriegsmarinewill have to make do with the resources that

  I grant it. The admirals will have to prove to me that their grand ships are worth the treasure that we