North Reich

by Robert Conroy

  Joey gave directions and they flew near but not over the target. "Skipper, please let's turn on the light. I bet it would blind them and scare the shit out of them."

  Romano grinned. He could visualize the sub's crew listening intently to the distant sound of the B24 and wondering whether it meant danger. "Sounds like a great idea to me, only thing is, we ain't gonna do it and you know it, so quit trying to tempt me."

  Joey laughed and then started. "Wait, skip, there's another one. Oh Christ, there's three of those little Nazi ducks all in a row. What in the hell are they up to?"

  "Beats the hell out of me, which makes it all the more important that they don't know we can see so well in the dark. We'll log it in and let the wizards at the Pentagon tell us what it means. Besides, it's just about time for dinner — I mean breakfast."

  Captain Franz Koenig sat at ease in the overstuffed chair in General von Arnim's office. The general was excited and there was a near feral glint in his eyes.

  "We have further orders, captain. In a few months at most we will implement Operation North Storm. In the meantime, I want you to coordinate with Herr Neumann and his Gestapo to ensure that no hint of it gets out. In particular, I want you to impress on him that there should be no ridiculous attempts to gain information like that abortive attempt to steal a courier's package. His reports insist that the Americans are treating it as an attempted robbery, something like what Bonnie and Clyde would do, but I am not so certain."

  Koenig made a mental note to find out just who Bonnie and Clyde were. There were still so many things he didn't know about American or Canadian culture and history.

  "I will make every effort to get him to cooperate."

  And cooperate was the operative word. The Gestapo did not report to the army, considering themselves superior to it, which often led to complications. Neumann's independence clearly annoyed von Arnim, although he would never mention it. There might only be a relative handful of Gestapo agents in Canada, but they carried with them the power of life and death. They could arrest anyone, including Koenig and von Arnim, for any reason whatsoever, and hold them and interrogate them at their pleasure. Koenig shuddered at the thought of being interrogated by the Gestapo. Their tortures were rumored to be hideously effective. Even those who were released were changed forever, and not just physically.

  "I'm sure you will, captain. In the meantime, you might want to stay in contact with our Wehrmacht friends at our embassy in Washington and also try to find out what Neumann's plans are for supporting us during North Storm. Also, what the devil does he have in mind for those fool Black Shirts in his Canadian Legion. We wouldn't want to be tripping over each other, now would we?"

  Certainly not, Koenig thought. The normal fog of battle problems were bad enough, but add to it the sometimes clumsy efforts of the Gestapo and it could be disastrous.

  Von Arnim continued. "Fortunately, close coordination with the Kriegsmarine will not be necessary. Admiral Rader's submarines will have their own targets and they will not be affected by anything we do." He chuckled. "At least, I hope not."

  "Will more of Rader’s E-boats enter the St. Lawrence or Lake Ontario? And what about his submarines getting into the lakes, sir?"

  The general pondered for a moment. The Americans were furious at the presence of German warships in Canadian waters, no matter how small the German Admirals seemed to think they were. The Americans were barely tolerant of German troops in Canada and, had they not been involved in their war with Japan, might have pushed hard, even violently, to get them out. America might have suspended her precious Monroe Doctrine due to exigent circumstances, but it was not forgotten. It was also fortunate that their Secretary of State, Cordell Hull, was old and said to be in poor health.

  Von Arnim smiled. "You have raised some very important issues. However, I am certain that these have all been anticipated."

  With that, Koenig was dismissed. As he left von Arnim’s office, he stifled a grin. He was confident that the touchy and vain general would not admit that a mere captain had possibly thought of something that no one else had.

  Downing called the senior members of his small staff together. Along with Tom Grant, this included Major Fred Bryce, U.S. Army Air Force, and Army Major Al Neumann. Both were slightly senior to Tom. A number of captains and lieutenants, along with a score of clerks, also worked with the group, but were not invited to attend.

  Downing smiled and waved a piece of paper. "Our Canadian friends came through for us. Either they didn't get the memo that they weren't supposed to cooperate, or the RCMP didn't give a crap. At any rate, they identified the clown who killed Corporal Henry and injured Lieutenant Cutter and Corporal Wilkins as a Toronto resident and petty thief named Paul Munro. My contact also and very unofficially said that Munro was a member of the Canadian Legion and that he had two brothers. We can safely assume that they were the other two men involved and that we will never see them again."

  The men smiled. They'd had the D.C. police send a photo of the corpse up north as if nothing other than a simple robbery involving a possible Canadian citizen had occurred. It had taken a couple of days, but the very efficient Royal Canadian Mounted Police had responded professionally as usual.

  Tom was pleased, too. Alicia's observation that their accents were Canadian had borne fruit. It further meant that the Germans were indeed very likely behind the attack. The only question was what did it mean? Obviously, the Nazis were very interested in what was going on at Camp Washington, which was clearly an intelligence gathering operation.

  "I think it was a dumb thing for them to do," Downing added. "Almost as foolish as Tom here swimming the Great Lakes."

  Tom grinned. "That hurt, sir, almost as much as my shoulder does."

  Downing ignored him. "It does mean that couriers from Camp Washington will be very heavily armed and protected. From here on in we will not be using women as messengers."

  Ouch, Tom thought. That meant he wouldn't be seeing Alicia Cutter anytime soon. Too bad. With her injuries healing, he was finding her more and more attractive. He hadn't done anything about that discovery, however, since the significant difference in their ranks might make any kind of social activity awkward at best. If he asked her out, she might feel that he was putting pressure on her. She might feel compelled to go out with him if only to keep him from pestering her, and he didn't want that.

  He snapped back to reality. Downing had begun speaking again. "At the orders of Generals Eisenhower and Truscott, we are to begin what he calls brainstorming sessions. Nothing new in that, but they are to include reps from the navy.

  Bryce snickered. "That means we'll have to use very small words and speak slowly, colonel."

  Downing shook his head. Fred Bryce was a former fighter pilot and had a reputation as a joker. "Somehow, I think they feel the very same way about us. Regardless, we'll be among a number of such groups who will be trying to figure out just what the hell the krauts are up to."

  Yeah, Tom thought, and I'd like to know what Alicia Cutter is up to.

  "When we are done," Downing continued, “we will put our thoughts on paper and submit them to General Truscott."

  Bryce laughed. "The writer of the winning essay gets a big hug from General Marshall. Second place is two big hugs."

  Downing sighed and continued. "When we sit down to do this, remember that there are no such things as bad ideas. Even the most unlikely thought should be talked out. Don't feel constrained by anything. Obviously, Bryce isn't."

  "Of course we will cooperate, captain," Neumann said with a tight smile. Koenig was not impressed. The Gestapo officer's eyes were cold as ice.

  "We in the Gestapo always cooperate with the Wehrmacht, and I know that the army is on our side as well. Sometimes, however, I'm concerned that some army officers do not think the Jewish menace is as big a problem as others do. I'm speaking, of course, of the emphasis on ridding the world of Jews that both the Fuhrer and Heinrich Himmler think is appropriate and imperative."<
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  Koenig was about to respond when Neumann shushed him with a wave of his hand. They were in Neumann's office at the place outside Toronto that was referred to as The Farm. It was ringed with barbed wire and there were guards, and sentries patrolling and protecting it. Whatever was going on, Koenig thought, Neumann clearly thought it was important.

  Neumann continued. "I will cheerfully admit that the attack on the courier was ill-advised and will not be repeated. However, it was requested by the assistant military attache in Washington, your friend Captain Stahl.”

  Koenig suppressed a shudder. How the hell did Neumann know that Stahl was his friend? Shit.

  "Come, Captain Koenig, let me show you what our real work involves."

  Neumann led Koenig down a hallway to a locker room where he instructed him to put on a shapeless smock and a hood. "When we interrogate people, it helps so much if they can't see us or recognize us later. Now, you will doubtless see some things that will shock you or even disgust you; however, there is a method behind the apparent cruelty. Whatever happens, you will remain utterly silent. Others will be with us, but only I will speak. Understand?"

  Koenig stiffened as they entered an adjacent room. A plain and plump young woman was strapped to the arms and legs of an awkward looking chair. Her arms and legs were spread apart. She was naked and shivering. Her eyes widened in terror as she saw hooded men entering and staring at her. She had urinated on the floor.

  Neumann spoke. "We will do this as quickly as possible and then you can go home. Understand?"

  The girl nodded. "Speak!" Neumann commanded.

  Neumann’s tone demanded a response as if she was a dog, and she managed a weak yes.

  "Good. Your name is Mary Bradford, is it not, and you work for the American consulate in Toronto, true?"

  "Yes."

  "Good. Now, you have an older sister who is twenty-four and a younger one who is eleven, correct?"

  "Yes."

  "Excellent. Now, you are a mail clerk in the consulate which means you see what comes and goes. We require your cooperation. We will give you a list of things to look out for while you are sorting and delivering mail. It may be necessary for some items to be delayed while either you or one of my men looks at them."

  "But that would be a crime, sir," Mary stammered.

  Neumann sighed behind his mask. "Stand her up."

  Two guards released her and pulled her to her feet. One punched her hard in the stomach and, as she doubled over, the second grabbed her hair and violently yanked it back. She tried to scream and retch at the same time. She was pushed back on to the chair and strapped in.

  "Can you imagine this happening to your sisters? What happens to you will happen to them as well.” He held up a long handled pair of pliers for her to see. "These will be for your teeth. One at a time will be pulled and there will not be an anesthetic, of course."

  One of the hooded men opened her mouth and Neumann pushed the pliers inside where he skillfully held a tooth in its grasp. "Smaller pliers, pincers, will remove your fingernails and toenails, again one at a time and at scheduled periods so you can sit and wait for the agony to begin anew. You cannot imagine the pain you will have to endure if you do not obey me, and remember that the same agonies will be inflicted on your family."

  He removed the pliers from her mouth and had her guards stand her up again. The two guards began to stroke her breasts and buttocks. She screamed and writhed.

  "Are you a virgin, Mary Bradford?" She whimpered that she was and Neumann laughed. "Now, Mary Bradford, do you understand what will happen to your family if you don't cooperate. Along with what I just described, you'll be sitting there watching them be raped. Your sister might handle it, but an eleven year old girl? I wonder. A few good hard German cocks might just tear her apart. Of course your turn will come afterwards while they watch. Do you have a boyfriend?" Mary nodded that she did. "Wonderful. Maybe we'll invite him in to watch the show as well. So you will cooperate, won't you?"

  She nodded and murmured a yes.

  "You may be the last virgin in Canada, and you will remain that way. However, you will give these men," he pointed to his thugs, "something to seal the bargain. You will suck their dicks. Understand?" Mary moaned and again nodded her head. “And if you do anything to hurt them, your pain will be beyond belief.”

  Koenig watched in disgust as, in anguish, she was released from the chair and performed on the two hooded men. When done, she slumped down to the floor and sobbed hysterically. Neumann instructed his men to give her back her clothes and possessions and told her to take a shower. After which, she would be driven back to the apartment from which she'd been snatched the evening before. She was told to go to work on Monday as if nothing happened.

  As if she could, Koenig thought. He’d committed his share of what many would define as atrocities, but they were against Slavs and Jews, people Hitler defined as less than human, which meant they didn’t count. In Koenig’s opinion, Canadians were too close to Aryan for what had happened to the girl to be comfortable.

  Neumann wanted to talk some more, so they returned to the Gestapo commander's office. Neumann prattled on about the greatness of Hitler and the inevitability of the Reich's triumph against the decadent west because it was filled with Negroes and Jews. Koenig agreed that there were numbers of Jews who were in charge of banking and the movie industry, and that this had to change. Indeed, it would change.

  "No such mongrel race has ever succeeded," Neumann said. "By the way, were you impressed by our technique with the girl? We took her on a Friday night, so she wasn't missed. Even her boyfriend was out of town. Nor did we really hurt her, at least not physically. There will be no major bruises and she'll have no one to complain to. We broke her mentally and she will obey completely since she fully understands the consequences of failure or disobedience. The German Army may conquer nations, but the Gestapo conquers people."

  Koenig was about to leave when one of Neumann's guards barged in. "Sir, the girl has killed herself."

  They ran down the hallway and found her lying on the floor of a shower stall. Her eyes were open but the life had gone out of them. Her wrist had been sliced open with a small pocket knife that had likely been hidden in her purse, and what remained of her blood was flowing down the drain. Koenig saw more blood on her thighs. The goons had indeed raped her. He wondered if Neumann cared and decided probably not.

  "Damn it," snarled Neumann. "She was so promising. Now I'll have to find someone else."

  Chapter Four

  Grant submitted his so-called brainstorming report and promptly forgot about it. He and the other officers in the group had collaborated on a document that ran a mere five pages, while other groups had written extensive treatises. Tom had the feeling that anyone reading it would not want something the size of "Gone with the Wind," so he kept it short and terse.

  He was mildly surprised when, after a couple of days, he and Downing were summoned to Truscott's office. Another major general was there as well, Dwight Eisenhower. He commanded what used to be the army's War Plans Division and was now the Operations Division. His friends called him Ike, which Tom wouldn't think of doing. Tom and Eisenhower had met briefly on a couple of occasions and the general greeted him amiably, shaking hands.

  "Glad to see you're healing, major," Ike said with a disarming grin. "Now let's have a seat, some coffee, and discuss your analysis of the situation. Colonel Downing says that you were the driving force behind the report and that the fundamental ideas were yours, so don't be modest."

  Grant felt himself flushing. "I guess I had a lot to say, general."

  "That and the fact that you'd been in Canada made it even more important that we talk with you. Now, you state that the Germans will not invade us, why?"

  "Sir, they will most certainly attack if they see a major advantage, but they will not risk a full-fledged invasion, which would be a permanent thing. When I was in Canada, I identified a number of their Wehrmacht divisions, and I
understand at least two more have arrived since then. Assuming they're at close to full strength, that would give them at least two hundred thousand men. That's a lot, but not enough to conquer the United States or even make a permanent claim to part of it. They would never use all their soldiers in an attack since they still have to maintain control over a huge portion of Canada. The Canadians are docile, but they might take advantage of an opportunity to try to kick the Germans out. Therefore, I believe they will raid, but not invade."

  "And where will those raids take place," Eisenhower said softly. He continued to smile, but his eyes were cold.

  "Sir, there are only a handful of places where we are vulnerable, and they are obvious since geography will dictate German operations. First, is the Buffalo area and the second is Detroit and vicinity. Detroit would be particularly attractive since there are so many major factories producing planes, tanks, and trucks. Pittsburg is close enough to be hit by the Luftwaffe, and they do have a number of fighter and bomber squadrons stationed near Toronto."

  Truscott leaned backward in his chair. "And you don't think they will be tempted to try and keep what they raid?"

  Tom grinned. "Oh, I think they'll be tempted. In fact, I believe that a number of their officers, and maybe some of ours, would be delighted if they tried to hang on. We'd outnumber them in a couple of days and simply roll over them. No sir, after hitting us as hard as they can, they'll return to Canada, blow the bridges and tunnels and wait for Uncle Adolf to come and rescue them."

  "And what will Uncle Adolf be doing?" Eisenhower asked.

  "He'll have greatly increased his submarine strength, which I understand is already occurring. He can't take on our surface navy, so he'll hit our inter-coastal shipping along with our ports and harbors as hard as he can. If he can cut our navy down to size, he can send an additional force to Canada. If he can't, this General von Arnim is screwed."

  "Anything else? Your report mentioned deep raids, even assassinations," said Ike.