NO. The Fuehrer was gone and irreplaceable. Certainly the bureaucrats who now sought to replace him were not the ones capable of doing it. No, if they had had anything near the possibility of doing what they sought to they would not have come to him. Not after he had backed Rommel. In these cold stone walls he had to make a final decision.
The civilian was framed by the wooden doorframe for an instant and in that instant any doubt in Dietrich’s mind died. This was not the posture of a soldier.
‘Meyer, please remain. There is other business to attend to.”
Jawohl Oberstgruppenfuehrer. The lanky Waffen-SS General briefly shook hands with the civilian before returning to Dietrich’s office.
Dietrich studied his divisional commander for a moment. “So bureaucrats like that want to become the new Fuehrer, Meyer?
The Panzer commander looked back at his superior surprised but said nothing. After a few seconds Sepp continued. “We swore an oath is what they say and the memory of that oath justified you bringing him here. But Meyer, what they propose is civil war. To avert that was the reason Rommel came to our headquarters on the 17th of July. Our people need peace and protection from the Bolshevik hordes.”
“We are soldiers Oberstgruppenfuehrer. Political soldiers.” Meyer had never been good with political arguments. “Our oath was to the Fuehrer.”
Sepp was ready for this one. He was no intellectual but this one his gut had reasoned through on July 17th when Rommel had asked him to choose. “Yes to the Fuehrer as the leader of Germany.”
The Bavarian looked up into Meyers hard eyes. “The Fuehrer is gone but Germany remains. Right now we stand united in our loyalty to it, do we not? When the war is over then whoever wants to can go back to being a politician. Agreed?”
There was silence, while both men studied each other.
Meyer snapped a salute, a military one. “Agreed Oberstgruppenfuehrer, for Germany.”
And a moment later he added. “I will let the bureaucrat know that he must wait for peace to play politician.”
Sepp Dietrich regarded his comrade in arms for a few moments. And then his voice grew soft. “ Meyer we all have choices to make. The most important one as soldiers is to look after our men and our people. If we start a quarrel at home now the Bolshevik’s will surely be in Berlin by Christmas. Thank you for seeing that.”
Inside Sepp Dietrich relaxed; he knew Panzermeyer to be as good as his word.
But for good measure he added, “who knows, after the war I might even vote for you.”
All he got was a grin, a snort and another military salute, this one not quite as snappy as the first. With that Panzermeyer, wearing his black Waffen SS Panzer uniform with the SS runes and the deaths head marched out of his office.
Unfortunately Russia is not entirely European. She has however vast resources ad cannot fail to become the main threat in 15 years from now. Therefore foster Germany, gradually build her up and bring her into a federation of Western Europe.
Field Marshall Lord Alanbrooke
Entry in War Diary, July 27th, 1944
4pm, 2nd October
Whitehall
London
Alan Brooke closed the folder the Prime Minister had given him. Despite the fireplace’ best efforts Churchill’s private office was cold. The sparse decorations made it seem even colder. The CIGS pondered a black-framed sketch of the charge of the 21st Lancers at Omdurman in the Sudan. That had been in 1898 and Lieutenant Churchill had been one of them even if he had been carrying a Mauser pistol and not a sabre as the sketch suggested. How remarkable the CIGS thought, he’s been at it for half a century. And here he sits confronted by the challenges that not merely changing politics but changing technology throws at him and he’s adapting as he goes along. The folder held a summary of some recently decrypted Enigma signals between German High Command and Army Group North and Army Group Center. The CIGS was grateful that this had been summarized rather than given to the PM in raw form as so often had been the case. Many a time had he been forced to deal with one of Churchill’s crazier schemes because of some tidbit the PM had picked out of some enemy wireless communication.
‘The Germans are certainly up to something in north-eastern Poland. Prime Minister. It appears as if some of the units that used to face our forces in France are being massed as a strategic reserve. What is not clear is what their objectives are, purely defensive or offensive. My guess would be offensive given that these seem to be the Waffen-SS units and their tank units.’
‘Yes I find the absence of clarity puzzling myself. It seems we are no longer getting quite the complete picture when everything came from one center.’
‘They cannot have discovered the purpose of Bletchley Park, Sir’ Here Alan Brooke felt on firm ground.’ What he and Churchill did not, could not, know was that these days the personal links between Stauffenberg, Rommel, Goerdeler, Leber and von Trott meant that most of the big decisions were done over the telephone. Von Witzleben’s role was increasingly being curtailed when it came to making policy.
‘Security is something we need to perhaps have MI 5 review. Maybe someone has decided that now that Hitler is gone he or she is willing to work for the Germans. I gather that some of Roosevelt’s scientists are having some second thoughts about Tube Alloys. But that is not why I called you here. Let’s assume for the moment that the German intention is only defensive, that all they are doing is redeploying forces to the East to stabilize their front. What do we do with that knowledge?’
The CIGS sat quietly unsure of himself. He had never seen the PM that uncertain.
‘The alternative is of course that we assume that Berlin intend to use the troops they got out of France, Italy and Scandinavia for one last desperate effort against Russia in the hope that they can sit down with us from a position of power. That is what their envoys suggested they would do.’
‘It is still a question of whether we regard the Soviets as our allies, PM’
Sadly Churchill shook his head. “Not entirely. The issue is also whether the Germans are still our enemies. We warned Stalin of the impending attack in June 41 because Hitler was our enemy. “
‘Yes sir you did mention at the time that if Hitler invaded Hell you’d feel obliged to make a few positive remarks about the devil in Parliament.’
‘FDR would of course see no problem. He’s in this on principle, not over national interest like us. He has an ocean to insulate him, we do not. The channel cannot even protect us from long-range artillery any more, as we found out in 1941. Principles require absolutes, national interest pragmatism. Long-sighted pragmatism.’
‘It seems Prime Minister we have finally reached that dreaded moment where we need to make a clear decision. This news and the situation with the Polish forces in Warsaw… we can no longer delay this. It is a decision for the cabinet, for the duly elected representatives of the people to decide. This PM, is policy and not strategy. I believe a part of that discussion was already had when we chose to reassert our position in Greece. Are we proposing to go further down the track on this? ’
‘I agree, but you are being uncharacteristically coy. Of course I will need to discuss this with the cabinet in detail and with his Majesty. What do I tell them is the view of the armed forces.’ Alanbrooke hesitated. ‘Come on Field Marshall you’ve been thinking about this for weeks. Most probably since you sat in that tent with Rommel.’
He had, he had to admit doing just that; and so had many in the senior ranks of the British military. There had been no consensus. Most felt honour bound to bring the war to a conventional end; an end the people would call victory. Others – generally the more aristocratic - had argued that American efforts to undermine the Commonwealth and the threat of Russia were the larger evil, now that Hitler was gone. All had agreed after Patton’s unhappy venture that a non-military solution would be the most desirable outcome. He recalled the brief flutter of rumours that had gone through the ranks of the armed forces aristocrats when Rudolf He
ss, Hitler’s deputy had flown into Britain in 1941 in search of a separate peace deal. Back then there had been many who had implicitly preferred a deal with Hitler against Stalin over the present alliance. That would not have changed too much.
‘Your views, CIGS’
‘Our resources remain stretched and the armed forces critically dependent upon the supplies from across the Atlantic. Now that most of America’s might is going into the Pacific, even we are feeling the pinch in some areas. Even with American might behind us we would never be able to do more than contain the Red Army in its present form somewhere on the continent. As a commander of realm I would like that containment to occur as far east as possible. If we project our presence into Poland we may have a few tense month with Stalin but we would be restoring much of the continent’s power politics to more or less the position of the early 1930s.’
‘And if Stalin does not see it that way?’
‘Then PM, we at least can hold the Americans to their alliance rather than having to renegotiate it all over with them. They now have troops deployed on the continent. It would a real effort to get them back once they are gone.’
‘Yes, ‘ Churchill bit down on his cigar ‘ yes it certainly would.’
6th October
Paris
Over the past ten days things had gone from bad to worse in Paris to the point where the American commander lost his patience. For the last week large parts of the city had descended into complete anarchy forcing his men to travel in groups of at least ten when venturing out. Although no Frenchman was starving all were frustrated enough to turn their American supplied hardware on each other in search of a solution out of the stalemate that De Gaulle had created. While the provisional government struggled with ever dwindling resources to establish a semblance of law and order in sections of Paris, large parts of the countryside were being ruled by impromptu committees of former resistance men, many of them Communists. If that had been the end of it American and British officers would have left the French to their own devices, but in an effort to consolidate their positions many of these committees were turning to occasional banditry and invariably the targets were Allied supply depots and trains. On September 30 a large group of armed men stopped and robbed a supply train just as this was about to enter the metropolitan area of Paris. More than 120 tonnes of food and medicine was taken along with more than three wagon loads of American beer. Organised theft on this scale could not be tolerated and a manhunt quickly led to a Communist committee that seemed to have suddenly come into some money. Invoking their authority under US military regulations the MPs made a valiant attempt at arresting some of those they believed responsible. In the ensuing fire fight 7 American MPs died and over a dozen were wounded. That night the US military came back with a tank battalion and an infantry battalion. Blood was shed on a scale that could not be hushed up and the following day, in consultation with the British, American authorities formally declared martial law across several of France’s regions. De Gaulle’s followers and the resistance were given a week to hand over all weapons other than hunting rifles and handguns.
For the next days all sides held their breath as De Gaulle, the former resistance and the American authorities waited for the other side to make the next move. Near the German border the allied advance came to a virtual halt. No front commander was willing to be caught out if the French situation got out of hand. To the west of them the last of the German units earmarked for the Eastern Front were pulled from the line and began their long railway journey to the Eastern Front.
6th October
Greece
Meanwhile in Greece matters were coming to a head, the arrival of the British – who continued to publicly back the King – had increased the growing polarization of Greek politics. This was the ‘Free Greece’ in which the resistance ELAS held sway. It organised economic activity, ran an improved educational and judicial system and was meddling in social reform such as an improved status of women. Against this stood the largely urban or regional conservative forces with their center of power in Athens – which the British now controlled. From Stalin’s point of view the Greece had been born under the patronage of foreign powers and the Greeks had first fought as British proxies in Anatolia in the 1920s. That had set a style of Greek politicians relying on foreign sponsors, usually competing foreign powers.
The arrival of British troops – a motley force no stronger than a reinforced regiment had led to the usual victory and liberation parades in the capital but within a day the question of who would hold the power after the removal of the collaborationist government delegated the British to bystanders in Greek politics. For the British commander, General Scobie, advised by Foreign Office men, failed to disarm and imprison the Security Battalions, the militia of the regime that had collaborated with the Germans. These often ill-disciplined but well-armed units instantly found a new home with the monarchists who came forward – partly with British encouragement – to begin the organisation of a new administration. From their exiles in London and Cairo, Greek politicians had been squabbling for weeks over the composition of the new Government until the Foreign Office had backed a pre-war conservative moderate, Papandreou. He arrived a day after General Scobie and initially went everywhere with a British escort. But his Government existed in name only, although some ELAS members joined his administration there was very little left to administer. Over a thousand villages had been razed, and nearly a million civilians made homeless. Inflation was totally out of control, most civil service functions had long since collapsed and with the winter approaching food was in short supply.
For nearly two weeks the British attempt to maintain a presence that preserved law and order created the opportunity for the conservative forces to work out their accommodation with the Security Battalion men. Officially the Battalions were hastily disbanded but the new National Guard units absorbed most of these men.
ELAS members criticised these appointments which were made more difficult by the simple reality that in the wake of liberation personal and political scores were being settled across the country. It would be left to some future historian to determine exactly what incident eventually led to the break but on October 9th the EAM members of the Government resigned en mass. It also happened to be the day the British became aware of a Soviet military mission in Greece – one that had just covertly visited the leadership of the Greek Communist Party the KKE.
Although it controlled the majority of Greece’s countryside, ELAS and its political wing EAM, was never run along the centralized lines that would have marked it as a conventional communist guerrilla movement. Greek regional politics, peasant conservatism and sheer lack of administrative capacity had always limited the KKE’s role to a significant but not dominant role within the ELAS leadership. This recognition of their limitations had also persuaded the KKE leaders to participate in the Papandreou administration despite the British backing. The decision to do so was however not unanimous and when the Security Battalions began slipping almost seamlessly into their new role as National Guardsmen internal tension mounted. Into this situation the Russians stepped with an instruction from Comrade Stalin for the KKE to take a more active leadership role in EAM and to prepare the way for a greater EAM role in the Papandreou Government. But just as this was being debated the EAM Ministers walked out of the Government.
General Scobie‘s information came largely from the Foreign Office and Papandreou officials and unaware of the timing differences assumed that the EAM resignations were the result of a Russian instruction. The result was a panicked miscalculation: Fearing that the resignations were the precursor for a coup d’etat by the KKE/EAM he called for reinforcements and sent the National Guard out into the streets to keep law and order. Critically he also allowed the Government to recruit more National Guard units, provided these recruits were not EAM members. In short he pushed the country towards civil war.
Meanwhile the enraged Russians purged the KKE leadership of any moder
ate elements, elevating instead the more radicalised urban activists from Athens suburbs and began preparations for a confrontation with the British-backed administration. A moderate KKE central committee member who was purged by the Soviets sought to defect to the British to warn them of the growing threat but fell into the hands of a National Guard unit; one whose commander had a personal score to settle. The report that eventually reached the British only increased their fears and Churchill informed of the situation ordered the deployment of additional troops to the country. Troops with plenty of combat but no experience in keeping law and order.
Chapter 7
What are we going to have between the white snows of Russia and the white cliffs of Dover?
Winston Churchill 1944
Hungry war. The main course is men. Women are dessert. Children, a candy.
David L. Robins , The End of War p.111
9:20 pm 9th October
Rommel’s HQ, formerly Wolfschanze
Rastenburg, East Prussia
“Totenkopf in position” one of the young wireless operators shouted. They were still using the old Waffen-SS names.
“Luftflotte 4 confirms all units ready” another shouted slightly less excited.
Speidel leaned forward and marked a black SS rune on the large map stretched out across the table. It was a somewhat unreal scene. Here they were in Hitler’s former command post, the military heads of the conspiracy that had brought him down. Here Hitler had died and here they were putting together the pieces for Germany’s last ditch attempt at stemming the Red tide. The Lagebarracke in which Stauffenberg’s bomb had exploded had not been repaired and the area around it cordoned off. But with the former Führerhauptquartier’s excellent communications infrastructure, and the urgency of the moment, Rommel had moved his HQ into the complex with minimal hesitation.
The Valkyrie Option Page 46
