THE FORESIGHT WAR

by Anthony G Williams

  ‘Does that have to be so? The German propaganda only seems concerned about the position of Danzig and the treatment of Germans within Poland. I would have thought that a diplomatic solution would be possible.’

  Don sighed. ‘In a sensible world it would, my love. But the Germans have been demanding the reunification of Danzig with Germany, plus access through Poland to Danzig, since before Hitler came to power. Hitler would prefer to gain this without fighting, of course, but this would effectively cut off Poland’s access to the sea, which is too vital to their economy for them to agree to. In any case, Hitler would only use any Polish concessions as a springboard for a later attack. German hatred of the Slav peoples has a long history; the Germans have regarded Eastern Europe as territory for expansion since the Teutonic Knights first invaded centuries ago.’

  Mary walked over and slipped her arm around him. ‘Sometimes it seems so unreal. Here we are, in the peace of an English springtime, talking about the certainty of a horrible future. It seems almost…biblical, like the Apocalypse.’

  Don thought of the nuclear weapons programme and gripped her hand. He had not wanted to give encouragement to the atomic research which had been in progress anyway, but the thought of Hitler’s adviser providing him with such a weapon chilled the blood.

  ‘Let’s hope you’re wrong,’ he whispered.

  Herrman was feeling nervous, as he always did before meeting Hitler. He was uncomfortably aware of the dissonance between his knowledge of the crimes committed on Hitler’s orders, and the way in which this extraordinary man seemed to look on Herrman as a personal totem, a sign from above of Hitler’s destiny. This evening the Fuhrer was with Göring, both of them in high good humour.

  ‘Have you seen this?’ Hitler waved a press report. ‘Franco’s showing the way, and proving you right about the bombers!’

  Herrman looked at the paper, which reported the results of three days of bombing raids on Barcelona. Nearly a thousand were believed killed with thousands more injured. No wonder Göring was looking smug, he thought. Successes for air power meant a higher status for the Luftwaffe, and more influence for Göring.

  ‘The prototype of the new Heinkel four-engined bomber is almost ready to fly, with the big Dornier following a few months later,’ Göring stated. ‘Thanks to your advice, Professor, there is little doubt that they will be successful. By the end of nineteen-forty we will have a force of heavy bombers capable of bringing Britain to the conference table on her knees.’

  Herrman could not help pointing out the obvious. ‘It won’t be enough by itself.’

  ‘Yes I know,’ said Göring, tetchily. ‘The new submarines are doing well on trials, I hear, but they will only be of use against Britain. The bombers will also have the power to reach out and crush Russia after Britain has surrendered.’

  ‘But they will not be enough for that task, either.’ Herrman ploughed on doggedly, unsure whether to be more worried about Göring’s increasing irritation or the glint in Hitler’s eyes. ‘It is imperative to win the Soviet satellite states over to our side.’

  Hitler stood abruptly, forcing Herrman to do the same. ‘With your knowledge, we will deal with everyone who stands in our way. We have been given another chance to deal with the Slavs. We cannot lose this time. Why else would you have been sent to us?’ He turned abruptly and left the room.

  Göring eyed Herrman sardonically. ‘Be careful, Professor,’ he said softly. ‘To survive here you need friends. With your support, my position will become unchallengeable. With my support, you can have anything you want. Just think about it.’ He smiled benevolently and followed Hitler from the room.

  Shaken, Herrman sat down abruptly. After such sessions, he could never decide whether his feelings of nausea were due to the release of tension or simple revulsion. Despite his fear of the casual, cruel power of Hitler and his cronies, he knew he could not give up. He was driven to try to achieve the best for Germany and the rest of Europe, whatever the cost to himself.

  Don was feeling equally nauseous, but in his case it was due entirely to the rhythmical motion of the Hunt class corvette as it cruised down the Channel at twenty knots. It was a bright, fresh, April day and the sea seemed calm, but a steady swell was rolling in from the Atlantic. Helmsford, unfamiliar in naval uniform, stood easily beside him on the bridge and considered his distress.

  ‘I think I should prescribe some medicinal brandy,’ he said judiciously.

  ‘Will that make me feel better?’

  ‘Perhaps not, but it will at least take your mind off it.’

  The commanding officer laughed. ‘I hope this isn’t putting you off the Atherstone. She’s a beautiful little ship.’

  ‘I’m sure Dr Erlang appreciates her,’ said Helmsford drily.

  Don had as usual been introduced as a senior official in the Ministry and no-one except Helmsford was aware of the fundamental role he had played in specifying the design of the new class of escorts. Although generally similar in size and purpose to the historical ‘Hunts’, the design differed in many details. She included all of the wartime lessons that Don could recall, with an emphasis on anti-submarine and anti-aircraft armament, a hull designed for heavy-weather performance rather than the smooth-water speed of the traditional destroyer, and an accommodation layout intended to ensure reasonable comfort on Atlantic winter patrols. So the radar, two twin-4 inch, dual-purpose guns and multiple 40 mm and 20 mm automatics dealt with surface and aerial targets, while the forward-firing ‘Squid’, coupled with the pencil-beam sonar, saw to the anti-submarine role. Using one half of a destroyer’s twin-screw powerplant, she was fast enough to deal with the new high-speed U-boats and a much more useful escort vessel than a destroyer, while costing far less to build. As a result, the corvettes were being built at three times the rate of destroyers, to the anguish of many in the Navy.

  Helmsford led Don to the CO’s cabin immediately behind the bridge and poured him the prescribed brandy from a bottle which he triumphantly produced from his briefcase. He seemed far more cheerful now he was at sea.

  ‘Foresee all eventualities, that’s my motto. Seriously, how do you like her?’

  ‘Looks OK, but I’m not exactly an expert. The captain seems pleased, though.’

  Helmsford grinned. ‘Commanding officers always are. The important thing is how she performs against the electroboats. The rush job to produce high-speed submarines for target practice is on schedule, so he’ll soon have something to get stuck into.’

  ‘I didn’t say anything about advanced submarines earlier on,’ Don admitted. ‘I couldn’t see any point. We didn’t need them, and if we built them the Germans would soon copy us.’ He settled back into the only chair in the cramped cabin; Helmsford made himself comfortable on the bunk.

  ‘We still don’t really know what the new U-boats will be capable of,’ Helmsford pointed out.

  ‘We can assume that the combination of larger electric motors, larger battery capacity and streamlining will double their underwater speed to around seventeen knots. The boat in the picture seems to have a schnorkel as well, so it can run its diesels for cruising or recharging while staying underwater.’

  Helmsford nodded. ‘The combination of the big electric motors from the Thames class in a streamlined version of the small ‘S’ class hull should give comparable performance for our target, albeit without the range.’ He leaned back on the bunk, sipping his brandy thoughtfully. ‘It does seem strange, you know. All my training and experience, all the assumptions in the Service, lead to enemy battlefleets being treated as the major threat and our own capital ships as the best counter to them. Yet here we are, quietly preparing for an entirely different kind of war to the one my fellow officers expect. They would be horrified if they knew.’

  Don grunted. ‘As long as the equipment and training are provided, they’ll cope. Lack of competence was not something that the Navy was accused of in my time.’ He looked around the cramped cabin and smiled. ‘Thanks for arranging this. I
’ll never be much of a sailor, but anything to get out of that house for a while.’

  Helmsford looked at him sympathetically. ‘I can imagine how you feel. If you like, I think I can arrange some more trips. The first of the new frigates is working up, with the battleships and aircraft carriers following shortly after, not to mention the assorted amphibious mongrels.’ He grinned again. ‘There can’t be many people who can claim to have been responsible for the design of a whole new navy!’ He fiddled with the glass for a moment then asked abruptly, ‘what chance does Poland have?’

  Don was surprised. ‘Basically, none. They are surrounded by potential enemies with Britain and France too far away to be able to intervene. And although Poland has a large army, it is nothing like as well trained and equipped as the Germans’.’

  Helmsford sighed. ‘It just seems such an appalling mess,’ he muttered.

  Autumn 1938

  Herrman stood in the warm August sunshine, peering over the desolate countryside; heathland scattered with groups of trees. A deep, rumbling roar like distant, continuous thunder slowly built in volume. Vague movement became visible through the screen of trees. The roar gained a hard, clanking edge and the ground began to shake. Herrman knew what to expect, but even so he found himself filled with an unreasoning, atavistic fear. He flinched as a line of tanks burst through the undergrowth like a pack of hunting dinosaurs, roaring towards his position at over thirty kilometres per hour.

  Stadler laughed. ‘Don’t worry, they’re on our side. But God help the troops who have to stand their ground against this lot.’

  Over a hundred tanks were now visible, storming across the heath, fire blasting from their cannon as they passed in front of their viewing platform. Behind them came the boxy shapes of the armoured personnel carriers. As they came abreast of the platform, they stopped as one, hatches bursting open and troops tumbling to the ground, the air suddenly filled with the crackling roar of a thousand automatic weapons. A wave of self-propelled guns crashed into view, some heavy artillery, some with automatic anti-aircraft guns. They slewed to a halt and added to the appalling din. At the front of the platform, Hitler clapped his hands with delight while the generals beside him looked on smugly.

  Stadler spoke in his ear. ‘The boys are pleased with their new toys. Guderian is in seventh heaven.’ Stadler’s casual disrespect never failed to amaze Herrman. The SD man had been assigned to him only recently, the latest in a line of ‘aides’ whose job seemed to be to accompany him at all times.

  They were attending the beginning of ten weeks of manoeuvres involving three-quarters of a million men. Hitler had been keen to see the first of the new armoured formations which Herrman had persuaded him to create. As ever, he insisted on taking Herrman with him. The firing suddenly stopped and the soldiers jumped to their feet and stood to attention. Hitler and the generals strode down from the platform to inspect the nearest men.

  ‘All hand picked,’ observed Stadler. ‘Aryan supermen with perfect teeth.’ As ever, his dark, brilliantined hair was perfectly slicked back, his black leather coat immaculate, his patrician features set in a complex expression that Herrman could only describe to himself as a varying mixture of boredom, arrogance, disdain and watchfulness. At the moment, bored disdain predominated.

  ‘Göring won’t allow this little show to pass without response. We’ll be at an airfield within a week.’

  In fact it took ten days before they stood on a bleak, windswept airfield, admiring the new Heinkel He 177 as it prepared for flight. Standing with a group of senior Luftwaffe officers was Vuillemin, the Chief of the French Air Staff, who was being impressed by the strength of the German military preparations in a calculated – and successful – attempt at intimidation. Herrman looked at him with interest, knowing that his worried report of his visit would influence France against going to war over Czechoslovakia. The Daimler-Benz engines roared into life, four propellers slowly accelerating in turn – Herrman’s anxious pleas had led to the rapid abandonment of the plan for coupled engines, as well as the need to strengthen the plane for dive-bombing. The huge plane bristled with turrets mounting the new Rheinmetall-Borsig MG 131 machine guns. It was clearly in a different league from its predecessor, the He 111.

  ‘I’ve just realised,’ remarked Stadler over the thundering engines, ‘why the Kriegsmarine has so little influence.’ Herrman waited for the punchline. ‘Their toys don’t make enough noise!’

  They watched the big Heinkel lumber along the runway before lifting off and climbing away with surprising speed. As it disappeared into the distance, an assortment of other aircraft roared low overhead. Herrman automatically identified formations of Messerschmitt Bf 109s, Junkers Ju 88s, Focke-Wulf Fw 187s, Dornier Do 217s and the sole prototype of the new Focke-Wulf Fw 190. They circled the airfield then all landed in neat sequence, pulling off the runway to allow the He 177 to land, which it did with immaculate timing just as the Fw 190 took its place in the line-up. As the Heinkel rolled to a halt, the crews of all of the planes jumped out and stood to attention beside them.

  ‘Trust Göring to put on a show,’ Stadler commented as the portly General strode jovially beside Hitler to view the aircraft. ‘Somehow I can’t see Raeder getting the Führer to look at submarines.’

  Spring 1939

  Judging by the volume of tobacco smoke, the Oversight Committee had been in session for some time when Don was invited to join them. They were no longer surprised when he immediately opened a window, despite the slight chill in the spring air. Chairman gestured genially at him, and Don judged that the atmosphere was more relaxed than before.

  ‘It might be helpful for us to review our discussion. I understand that so far there has been no deviation from your predictions?’

  Don leaned back in his chair, his expression thoughtful as he reviewed the last few months. The latter part of September 1938 had seen frantic diplomatic activity, sparked by a Nuremburg Congress speech by Hitler in which he demanded that ‘the oppression of three and a half million Germans in Czechoslovakia shall cease and be replaced by the right of self-determination’. Three days later Chamberlain, alarmed that Germany was on the point of starting a European war, had flown to Munich to see Hitler at Berchtesgaden; the first of a rapid round of shuttle diplomacy involving the French and Italian leaders as well, and culminating in the Munich Conference in which the other European powers acquiesced to the transfer of German-populated parts of Czechoslovakia to Germany. This outcome had been greeted with widespread relief in Britain, despite Winston Churchill denouncing it as a servile act of appeasement. On 1st October, German troops had marched into Czechoslovakia and met no resistance.

  Several months of uneasy peace had followed in Europe, punctuated in November by the savage German reprisals against German Jews following the shooting in Paris of von Rath, a German diplomat, by a Polish Jew. Mass emigration of Jews from Germany had resulted, encouraged by the Nazis (who confiscated their property) but limited by the willingness of other nations to absorb large numbers of refugees when they were themselves still suffering from unemployment. The Jews’ favoured destination of Palestine was no help to the British who had been given a mandate by the League of Nations to manage the country; violent clashes with the resident Palestinians were intensifying.

  Then on March 10th, less than two months ago, the Czech crisis had erupted again. Dr Tiso, the Slovak premier, was arrested on orders of Dr Hacha, the Czechoslovak president, for attempting to establish an independent Slovakia. Tiso visited Hitler a few days later; as a result, Hacha was invited to meet Hitler and forced to sign documents turning the Czech lands of Bohemia and Moravia into German protectorates. Prague was occupied by German troops on March 15th. Czechoslovakia had finally been dismembered.

  Last of all, the long and bitter Spanish Civil War had finally ground to a halt on 31st March with the capitulation of the Republican government to Franco’s forces, much to the jubilation of the supporting Italian and German governments.

&nbs
p; Don was jolted from his thoughts as Chairman impatiently cleared his throat. ‘Yes, I haven’t noticed any changes in the pattern of events so far.’

  ‘Good. Now Czechoslovakia’s out of the way, Hitler’s beginning to shape up to Poland.’

  Don nodded. ‘I read of his Reichstag speech the other day, denouncing the non-aggression pact with Poland and calling for the annexation of Danzig. On top of his demand for the return of German-speaking regions of Poland, he’s on course for an invasion in September.’

  ‘Is there nothing we can do to warn the Poles?’ Don was amused to note that Creamed Curls had somehow retained his hopeful optimism.

  ‘They know about the danger, all right,’ said Military Man, ‘I was over there the other week with the military attaché. The trouble is that they are banking on their alliance with France to deter Germany, or if the worst comes to the worst, they think they can hold out against the Germans until the French can come to their aid. Unfortunately, they don’t appreciate the speed of the blitzkrieg they are about to face so they don’t realise that they won’t have time to mobilise their forces properly.’

  ‘Can’t we at least get them to mobilise in advance?’

  ‘The problem with that is that it would raise the level of tension considerably as it’s the final stage before a declaration of war, so France is pressing Poland not to do it. In any case, it would only delay the inevitable. The Poles simply don’t have the modern equipment, tactics or trained manpower to hold out for long, despite their undoubted courage and determination. Whatever we were to do at this stage, it’s too late to save them from their fate.’

  ‘At least we’ve managed to dissuade Chamberlain from guaranteeing their independence this time, which was quite a struggle. There’s a lot of political pressure to be seen to be taking action to stop Hitler’s escapades.’ This from Diplomat. ‘He wanted to give guarantees to Rumania and Greece as well, after the Italians invaded Albania. He’s becoming very irritated with us, but of course we can’t yet tell him about Dr Erlang – it would be difficult to do so, bearing in mind that he needs to step aside once war commences.’