by Wagher, Ward
“Well, that, too. And that would be even after we gave them all the water they could drink.”
”I don’t know. The savages seem to have settled down quite a bit. I have noticed they are even planting gardens now that they can water them easily.”
“That may be true, but I still don’t think I’d like to wander around that village after dark.”
“Me neither, to be honest. It looks like the drilling crews are wrapping up for the day. Let’s wander over to the dining tent and see what cookie has come up with today.”
“Hopefully, he got a shipment of beef or pork in,” Chase said. “I don’t think I can handle any more goat or mutton.”
Gorber laughed. “You’re getting soft, Vince. I remember when you thought nothing of skinning a rattlesnake and frying it for supper.”
“Those were desperate times, Stefan.”
“Come on, then. I’m sure you will find something edible.”
§ § §
June 1, 1943; 7 AM
Reich Chancellor’s Office
Reich Chancellery
Berlin, Germany
Schloss set down his coffee cup and slid the plate containing the pastry crumbs away. He picked up the memo from Peter and was not sure he wanted to remove the clip to see the facsimile attached to it. He sucked in a breath when he saw the article from the New York Times.
How Germany Arranged Its Persecution of the Jews
As we saw in our previous article, the Nazi Party worked actively throughout the 1930s to first disenfranchise the Jewish people in Germany, and then to exclude them from professional careers. The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service excluded Jews from the civil service. It included teachers, doctors, and lawyers.
A decree related to the German national health services disallowed coverage to any patient who saw a “non-Aryan” doctor. Under the pretext of reducing the overcrowding of Germany schools, Jewish students were limited to 1.5 percent of the total. Another step in the Nazi plan was to take away the citizenship of anyone deemed undesirable. It applied mainly to the Jews.
Non-Aryans were also barred from participation in film, theater, music, fine arts, and broadcasting. Many Jews lost their jobs as a result.
The Nuremberg Laws passed in 1935 enforced the so-called Aryan bloodlines and further isolated the Jews. Later in the decade, additional restrictions limited most activities for Jews, such as theater attendance and school attendance. The state legalized the robbery of those Jews, culminating in the Kristallnacht, which legitimized attacks on Jewish businesses and synagogues. This gave the government an excuse for the mass arrests of Jews by blaming them for the violence.
All of this was orchestrated by a government bent on destroying the Jews by any means possible. Among those guiding the pogroms was Heinrich Schloss, the present Chancellor of Germany. This is the man who holds out the hand of friendship to the United States and encourages us to trade with those whose hands are stained with Jewish blood.
We need to remind our government of the dangers of consorting with such evil men. And now we are providing Germany with hard currency by trading with them. They use this money to waylay the brave Russian soldiers who have responded to Germany’s unprovoked attacks. We remember our horror at the unprovoked attacks from Japan, and yet we encourage the Germans to act in the same way.
My friends, we have much to consider here.
Schloss blew out his breath and shook his head. He tossed the article on his desk.
“Willem, are you here yet?”
“Of course, Herr Reich Chancellor.” The secretary poked his head in the door.
“Call the Foreign Ministry and see if Peter is in the office yet. I need to speak to him.”
A minute later, his phone tinkled.
“I suspect you saw the article, Hennie.”
“Do you send these over just to raise my blood pressure? Who is writing this stuff?”
“The byline is one Gareth Paige. The events he describes are true. But it is criminal how he ties your name to these actions. We know you were not involved.”
Was I not? How can I even know that? What if it is true? I was in the Nazi party. I even murdered Bormann. I am probably as much of a monster as they were.
“Peter, we need to think about some way to quiet this down. If articles like this appear in the New York Times, then the whole of America knows about it.”
“Take it easy, Hennie. Notice the last paragraph. This fellow is a shill for the Russians. I think people will recognize that fact.”
“But it’s the guilt by association,” Schloss shouted. “All of these things are historical facts. People will read the article and nod in agreement. They will tell themselves that yes, it makes sense I was involved. If something like this gets started in Germany, we will have no end of trouble.”
“You need to take it easy, Hennie. I have some people in the propaganda office working on something. I think we will phrase it as a letter to the editor of the Times. And it will carry your signature. You have a lot of credibility in the United States. We just need to use some of that.”
“And then I will start losing that credibility. If this reaches the high levels of the American government, they are likely to slap the embargo back on us. If they do that, we will lose the war.”
Peter took a deep breath. “I think you are overreacting. You are right in that we cannot ignore this. But I think if they print a candid letter from the Reich Chancellor, things will settle down.”
“Do you think so, Peter? Or are we both simply being naïve? This really worries me.”
“Come on, Hennie, take a deep breath. Try to relax. We are working on it. Some people will believe anything, and there is nothing we can do about them. But most people, particularly the Americans, have some common sense. We have a lot of friends in America. We can enlist them to provide some help.”
“Very well, Peter. Thank you for your time.”
After Schloss hung up the phone, Willem slipped into the office with the day’s first decanter of coffee. Schloss had brought his first cup down from the apartment earlier.
“I surmise the day is not starting well, Herr Reich Chancellor.”
“Willem, some idiot journalist in New York is out for my skin. I don’t know why or how. But it is greatly annoying.”
“Is there anything I can do?”
Schloss shook his head. “No, Willem. But, thanks. Peter’s people are working on a response. He seems very confident that it will quiet things down. I certainly hope so. I don’t need this right now.”
“Very well, mein Herr. I think the Military Digest just came in. I will bring it to you momentarily.”
“Thanks, Willem. And thanks for being your efficient self.”
“I am here to serve.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
May 31, 1943; 7 PM
Office of the Prime Minister
Tokyo, Japan
Admiral Shigetarō Shimada stared at the map of the Pacific Ocean and forced down the fear that tried to paralyze him. He looked up at Prime Minister Isoroku Yamamoto.
“We are faced with a double threat,” he said. “Our fleet was savaged in the Bay of Bengal, and now we have American forces that have landed in the Hawaiian Islands.”
“And what is our force structure to meet these threats?” Yamamoto asked.
Shimada shook his head. “We stripped Pearl Harbor of our naval forces to reinforce the task force we sent to the west. The Americans obligingly landed at Pearl. While they have only a beachhead, they now have control of the most strategic port in the Pacific.”
“That would not be Singapore, Admiral?”
“That could debate that, Admiral,” Shimada said. “Consider this. If the Americans manage to subdue our forces in Hawaii and then move west to recapture the Philippines, they will be positioned to control the South China Sea. That would interdict our supply lines to Australia and Southeast Asia. No, I believe it is critical to hold Hawaii.”
> Yamamoto rubbed his face as he studied the map. “We pulled our task force back to Singapore. I think if it stays under cover of land-based air, the British will not be able to mount an attack. Besides, our intelligence is confident we got all four of the carriers in that task force.”
“And we lost six, Admiral,” Shimada argued. “The rate of exchange works against us. But I suppose you already know that.”
Yamamoto smiled sadly at the fleet admiral. “It does no harm to remind me of unpleasant truths. How many carriers do the Americans have in Hawaii?”
“We had thought six. However, we received reports that a large carrier made transit through the Suez Canal last week. We have accounted for the carriers in the British Navy. We think this is one of the new-build American Essex class carriers. It is likely to be formidable.”
The prime minister stared into the distance as he thought. “Our problem, my friend, is that we gave little thought to a long war. Everyone thought that the Americans would quickly sue for peace after our attack on Hawaii.”
“And we were very wrong,” Shimada commented. “To our shame.”
“The emperor has tasked us with finding a way out of this thorny problem. We should know by now that the application of brute force will not win this war for us. I should have remembered that when I sent our task force into the Bay of Bengal. The responsibility for that failure is mine.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“I fear Hawaii may be lost,” Yamamoto said. “Yet we must work to keep our enemies off-balance. If the Americans are going to be able to hold and advance there, they will need to concentrate their sea power around Hawaii. Which means they are not able to attack the home islands with other than nuisance raids.”
Shimada looked carefully at Yamamoto. “That is a risky thought.”
“True. But we now know where the American Navy is. I think we can send destroyers and submarines out to the east of Hawaii and interdict their shipping. We will have to be careful to observe the operational radius of their patrol planes. If we can force the Americans to disperse their fleet somewhat, then we can reinforce Hawaii.”
“What about more attacks on the American West Coast?” Shimada asked.
Yamamoto bit his lower lip. “I believe we have baited the bear in his cave about as much as we dare, Admiral. If someone can develop a plan that will cause the Americans to shift their defensive forces away from a portion of the coast, we can certainly consider it again.”
“And what of Singapore?”
“One carrier will not give the forces in Trincomalee the necessary weight to attack Singapore. And we would need to be very careful venturing back into the Bay of Bengal.”
“And could we release some light forces to make raids along the coast of India?” Shimada asked.
“That is a very good idea,” Yamamoto replied. “They are not likely to be adventurous after their recent losses. But we can certainly make them react to us.”
“Should I draft orders, then?” Shimada asked.
“We should bring the military staff in for a meeting to discuss this first, Admiral.”
“Of course,” Shimada replied. “Your policy of keeping the Army informed and involved has been profitable.”
“I hope so,” Yamamoto stated. “We are going to have to take the troops we have pulled out of China and have them landed in Hawaii. For this to succeed, everyone must be thinking carefully. I brought you in early to explore some ideas. We will need to move quickly, but not let ourselves be panicked.”
“I understand,” Shimada said. “I will, of course, support you in any way that I can. We have suffered serious setbacks.”
“Correct, and the emperor was not pleased.”
“Surely, he knows that much of this is due to his… encouragement, earlier.”
Yamamoto smiled broadly at the other admiral. “Tactfully put. That is true. However, no one likes to be reminded of his mistakes. I had not the courage to suggest such to our emperor.”
“Probably wise.”
Yamamoto laughed.
§ § §
June 1, 1943; 6 AM
Reich Chancellor’s Apartments
Reich Chancellery
Berlin, Germany
“When does the counter-offensive start?” Gisela asked.
“Soon,” Schloss replied.
They were seated in the dining room of the apartment, working on breakfast. The children had not awakened, so the two enjoyed one another’s company. Frau Marsden had wordlessly slid breakfast on the table and retreated to the kitchen.
Funny how she seems to sense my moods, Schloss thought. Rommel and Model are getting ready to kick this thing off, and I am terrified of the risks we are running.
“You really do not want to talk about it, do you, Hennie?” Gisela continued.
He shook his head. “It’s not that. We are gambling our reserve forces on this project. If we lose them, it will be hard to build a replacement soon enough to do anything other than simply slow the Russians down.”
“It seems as though we have done very well so far.”
“We have,” Schloss replied. “We have taken very light losses, particularly when we consider what the Russians have lost. I think most of the credit goes to Model. What everyone is afraid of is that sooner or later, we will have to commit a lot of German blood to the maelstrom. We cannot afford to do that.”
“How long can Stalin keep spending Russian lives like this?” she asked.
“I do not know. I would have thought he would face revolt long before now. He has poured hundreds of thousands of lives into this war, and yet he keeps coming.”
“Frau Marsden has said we would prevail.”
“Yes, and I have heard her say that as well,” he quickly replied. “But it would be foolish of me to rely on the words of an old woman, regardless of what she has done for us in the past.”
The old woman in question stepped into the room at that moment. “I never said it would be easy, Herr Schloss. But I did say that you would prevail.”
“At what cost?” came Schloss’s anguished voice. “It is my job to protect the people. Not send them forth to die.”
“Difficult choices fall to the rulers,” Frau Marsden said. “Wishing for a different outcome does not make it so. Surely you understand that.”
“Yes, yes, I understand that,” Schloss said. “Understanding it does not make it palatable.”
“No, it does not. But understand this, Herr Schloss. The path before you is the one that fulfills your deepest desires, that is to make Germany unchallenged on the continent.”
“And what of little Gratia?” he asked, speaking of Peter and Renate’s daughter.
“She will grow up beloved by her parents and by the Schloss family.”
“Is that a promise, Frau Marsden?”
She glared at Schloss. “Of course not, Herr Schloss. I am simply telling you what will be. You are demanding the impossibility of failure. If you continue to make good decisions and act in an honorable fashion, you will succeed. Anything else leads to failure.”
“What is it, then?” he shouted. “It cannot be both.”
“I have perhaps said all I need to say on the topic,” she softly.
Schloss looked down at the table. “I swear that I am often tempted to have her taken out and shot.”
Gisela laid her hand on his. “I think she has amply demonstrated her dedication to you and our family, Darling.”
Schloss felt embarrassed. “I’m sorry, Gisela. I must quit allowing myself to fall into these blue funks.”
The woman with the long, red tresses patted his hand. “That is what I am here for, Darling. Between Renate and me, along with Peter and Karl, we will keep you where you need to be.”
“And where do I need to be?”
“Right here, Darling.”
“Have Peter and Renate made any kind of decision on christening the baby?” he asked.
She looked sharply at him. “A change
of subject, Hennie?”
“Have they?”
“They have not told me,” she replied, deciding not to force the conversation where he did not want to go. “I would think they need to decide soon.”
“I would think so, too,” he said. “I didn’t want to say anything to them. Renate can get rather direct when she thinks I am interfering in their business. Peter, of course, is no problem.”
She laughed. “If they have planned anything, Renate will tell me. You don’t need to worry about it. And, by the way, I will be taking Hans and Anna-Lisa to see the baby this afternoon.”
“Oh, good. That is all the children have talked about the past couple of days.”
“They are very excited about it.”
Anna-Lisa stumbled into the dining room. “I heard talking.”
Schloss picked up the little girl, who was rubbing her eyes and sat her in his lap.
“And how is my precious little Fräulein doing this morning?”
“I am sleepy, Poppa.”
“Well, why did you get up?”
“I told you,” she said petulantly, “I heard people talking.”
“I am sorry to have awakened you,” he replied. “Perhaps Frau Marsden has your breakfast ready.”
“I do have your breakfast ready, Liebchen,” Frau Marsden said as she eased into the room carrying a tray. “You need a healthy breakfast for a busy day.”
“Poppa, we are going to see the baby Grata today.”
“That’s Gratia, child,” Schloss corrected.
“That’s what I said.”
He looked up at Gisela and grinned. He thought the little girl was charming, even when she was grumpy. He wondered when Hans would awaken. Neither of his children was a graceful riser. Schloss could not remember a time when he wanted to lie in bed after waking up. Gisela could usually get him to consent to cuddle for a few minutes as she tried to wake up, but staying in bed was torture for him.
“Oh,” Gisela said suddenly, “I just remembered. Willem said that Dr. Kranz called and wanted to schedule an examination.”
