by Ward Wagher
Fortunately, the bureaucracy was adept at managing the domestic concerns of the government. He was able to focus his attention on the war. While he recognized that the Emperor had appointed him to the position because people were finally listening to his warnings about the war, he was uncomfortable because the same people were now expecting him to do something about it.
General Homma had joined Yamamoto in the expansive meeting room next to his office. Various maps of the Western Pacific areas were mounted on easels around the room. The maps were kept updated by members of the Japanese Armed Forces, and by studying them one was able to get a sense of the current state of the war.
“So you agree we should pull back to a defensible perimeter in China, General?” Yamamoto stated.
“Barring any reinforcement, I believe that would be the least unpleasant of a series of possible bad decisions,” the Army general said. “That would allow us to conserve manpower and equipment, but I fear it will also embolden our enemies. I do not worry so much about the Kuomintang overall, however, I believe the Communists would be heartened by our withdrawal. We would have to expect ongoing attacks against our new positions.”
Yamamoto nodded. “That is to be expected. But you do not see any major impediments to holding those positions, correct?”
“No, Prime Minister. If we draw the perimeter correctly we shall have eminently defensible positions, plus ample air cover. I plan to instruct our commanders on the ground to allow the forces to pull back in some areas to draw an attacker into a sack. Once we close off the sack we can wipe out the attackers. If enough of those peasants did not come home again, I think they will consider long and hard before sticking their hands into that kind of a hornets' nest.”
“I like that strategy,” Yamamoto said with a smile. “We need to identify tactics like that to help us preserve our overall strategy.”
“And the overall strategy is to conserve our forces for where we expect them to be badly needed.”
The new prime minister nodded. “That is exactly correct. The English are moving a fleet into the Indian Ocean. As you know there has been discussion as to whether they will strike to liberate Singapore and Malaysia, or whether they will go straight for Australia. We have received some intelligence that the Americans will augment the English with elements of their Atlantic Fleet.”
“And will they sortie their Pacific Fleet from the American West Coast?” Homma Asked.
“We think they will soon have six aircraft carriers on the West Coast,” Yamamoto replied. “That gives them a credible striking force if they decide to use it.”
“How many carriers did they use for their attack on the homeland?”
“We think it was only two.”
Yamamoto stepped over to one of the maps that showed the Japanese home islands and part of the Pacific Ocean. He touched the map with his index finger and made circular motions.
“They would have had to launch from around here. Operating this far to the west represents a risky move for the Americans. There would probably not be enough tonnage to manage to survive if they had run into one of our task forces.”
“Risky of them,” Homma said.
“Exactly,” Yamamoto explained. “When the Americans identify opportunities like that, it appears they will carefully calculate the risks and then take action. In this instance, they received a massive payoff for that raid.”
“I admit the Americans apparently got lucky when Tojo died in the bombing. Beyond that, however, the raid was merely a pinprick.”
Yamamoto stared at Homma. “I thought you knew better than that, General.”
“What?”
“That raid was more of a political statement than a military action,” he said. “Look at how the Americans had us scurrying around in fright. Everyone was sure the sky was falling. That pinprick burst this entire myth of Japanese invincibility. And, I mean everyone from the Emperor down.”
“I stand corrected,” Homma said. He looked deeply ashamed.
Yamamoto cocked his head as he studied the General. “Do not be downcast. We all require some reeducation if we’re going to survive this war. What we are doing here today is a part of that. We need to decide what we need to accomplish in this war, as well as what we are able to accomplish. Beyond that, we need to abandon unrealistic objectives. We are not going to be able to hold China, Southeast Asia, and Australia.”
“So we need to get out of China?” Homma asked.
“I do not believe we have enough bullets to kill every Chinese peasant. And that is probably what it will take.”
“But we were able to do so in Korea.”
“Korea was an order of magnitude less than China. What we need to do is to determine the best way to bring this war with the Americans and the English to a satisfactory conclusion. Then we can turn our attention back to China.”
Homma stood up and bowed. “I have received your instruction and your wisdom. I will do whatever is necessary to support this strategy, for it is the way of our people and the will of the Emperor.”
Yamamoto bowed in return. “Thank you for your willing spirit, General. A heavy task lies before us. It would be much less of a burden for us to simply join our ancestors. But in that way lies not honor.”
After the meeting, Yamamoto returned to his office. He had used the shock of the American raid, and Tojo’s death to rapidly assume control of the Army as well as the Navy. So far he had encountered surprisingly little resistance, but he expected that to change. Military organizations were as parochial as any culture he could think of. When he would be required to make decisions that impacted the Army or the Navy separately, he expected to encounter fierce debate. He also knew that he would have to deal with that when it arose. For now, he had to get the national house in order, so that he could force the Americans and the English to the peace table.
If he were going to do something like that, it would have to be soon. The American and English shipyards were turning out warships as fast as they could build them. Another couple of years and they would cover Japan up with steel. That was as sure as the sunrise.
§ § §
February 18, 1943; 2 PM
Strasbourg, Germany
Emil Burmeister’s feet crunched over broken glass and other debris from the final assault upon Wagner’s abortive revolt. The party headquarters were a mess, and with the efforts to get the Alsace back on its feet, no one had expended any effort in cleaning up the place. Burmeister was one of Carl Rainer’s handpicked investigators. He had spent the early part of his career as a police investigator in Berlin. He had sidestepped the opportunity to join the Gestapo early on and had caught the attention of Heinrich Himmler during the development of the SS.
Burmeister thought of himself as a pragmatic German. He had joined the Nazi party because it seemed like the thing to do. He had always thought that Hitler and the other party leaders were idiots, but he also paid attention to who buttered his bread. He developed a reputation as an apolitical functionary who was a thorough investigator. Being an unconventional thinker helped.
As he moved through the main offices he continued his practice of studying nothing carefully. The trick to an investigation was in picking up details at a glance and subconsciously fitting them into the overall context of the investigation. Rainer had given him no specific directives in conducting an investigation. He simply told Burmeister to go to Strasbourg and look around. There was a personal element in the investigation. Erich Meisterlich, whom Rainer had sent out originally to arrest the Gauleiter was a personal friend. The end of that story w as tragic. Meisterlich had been so proud of the job Rainer had given him. He didn’t expect it to be easy, however, no one had any idea that Wagner had engineered the elements of a coup.
Wagner’s inner office had been ransacked. The furniture was tumbled and destroyed, and papers were scattered about on the floor. Burmeister was surprised that no one had bothered to pick up the debris in the room. If this was the inner office, much o
f the paperwork would be confidential or even secret. As he scanned the room, he caught a glimpse of red. He walked over to where a file cabinet had been tipped on its side. Partially visible from underneath was the corner of a manila folder and a bit of red tape.
He slid the folder out from underneath the cabinet and looked at it. The front was stamped in large letters with the word Secret. Red security tape had been placed around the open edges of the folder. He pulled out his penknife and slit the tape. After pocketing the knife, he opened the folder to examine the contents. His eyebrows raised as he studied the first page. He turned to the second and read more. He quickly scanned the remaining seventeen pages in the folder, glancing at the contents.
He glanced over to where a credenza remained standing in front of the window. The curtains had been torn down and bright sunlight streamed into the room. Walking over to the credenza, he laid the folder down and opened it. After pulling a Minox camera out of his coat pocket he carefully snapped a picture of the first page. Turning the second page, he again took a picture and took photos of the remaining pages of the folder. He closed the folder and arranged it so that the Secret label was clearly visible. He carefully took a picture of the front of the folder.
He walked carefully to the outer office where an SS major in a perfectly tailored uniform gazed around the office in distaste. Here was a man, Burmeister thought, who was not accustomed to going into the field.
“Herr Major,” Burmeister called. “I need a secure pouch for this document. And I also need an aircraft to fly this to Berlin immediately, to the Reichsprotektor. Please be sure the security is adequate.”
“And why should I requisition an aircraft for you when we already have more people traveling back and forth to Berlin than we have airplanes?”
Burmeister looked at the sneering major. “I will shortly be on the phone with Herr Rainer to let him know that an important document is on its way to him. I will let you explain to him why it is not necessary to move heaven and earth to get this to them as quickly as possible.”
The major paled slightly under the investigator’s gaze. Without a word he spun on his heel and marched out of the room. Burmeister rolled a tongue inside his cheek as he considered the major. It was clear that the man had not yet learned how the Reichsprotektor had a short way with arrogance. Burmeister returned to the inner office and continued looking around. It seemed that most of the rest of the papers dealt with the gauleiter’s local activities. He was going to have to encourage someone to come in and begin cleaning up the place. He was surprised that the German sense of order had not intruded as yet.
He heard a noise in the outer office, and turned to walk back out the major was there with a sergeant carrying a secure briefcase.
“I trust this will take care of your wants, inspector,” the major said. The sarcasm was clearly evident.
“Thank you, Major. When I speak to the Reichsprotektor, I will be sure to mention your enthusiastic cooperation. Now if you will guide me to a telephone, I will call him to let him know the package is on its way.”
The major blanched again. “Very well, inspector. If you will follow me I will take you to a telephone.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
February 19, 1943; 2 PM
Government Council Chamber
Reich Chancellery
Berlin, Germany
The members of the German governing Council typically arrived early for the weekly meetings. When the Reich Chancellor called a special meeting, people arrived much closer to the starting time. This was because the new meetings often conflicted with things that were already scheduled. Schloss walked into the Council chamber at precisely 2 o’clock in the afternoon. As he stepped in the doorway nearest his office Hermann Goering burst through the double doors at the other end and walked quickly to his seat.
Schloss grinned at the Reich Marshall. “Things running a little tight this afternoon, Herr Reich Marshall?”
Goering put his hands on his hips as he stood next to the table. “I am here, Herr Reich Chancellor. I trust there was an important reason for the meeting. There is a lot I must accomplish before the end of today.”
Schloss pulled out his chair. “Be seated to everyone, please. Yes, there is an important reason for the meeting today.”
Willem Kirche walked around the table distributing folders to each of the attendees. Goering quickly picked his up and opened it to begin reading. The others left folders lying in front of them as they watched Schloss.
“Herr Rainer’s investigator discovered some very disturbing information in Strasbourg yesterday,” Schloss began. “To put it briefly, Wagner was apparently communicating with the Russians as he planned his coup. In your folders, you will find a photocopy of a letter from Beria to Wagner. The Russians were promising material support, plus potentially invading from the East as a way to distract us.”
“And we would certainly have been distracted,” Goering laughed. “This is frightening.”
“Indeed,” Schloss nodded. “Rainer is investigating further, unfortunately, it appears everyone in question on the German side is now dead.”
“In other words, they did not survive the coup attempt?” Gehlen asked.
Schloss glanced over at Rainer. “That is correct,” Rainer said. “As Herr Schloss said, we are still investigating, but it appears Wagner held this information very close. The names of several of his top lieutenants are in the documents, but we believe no one outside of his inner circle was aware of the discussions.”
“If I were talking to the Russians like that,” Peter Schreiber said, “I don’t think I would tell many people either.”
Ribbentrop tapped an index finger on the table. “But what does this mean? Are we sure the documents are authentic?”
“That is certainly the question of the day,” Rainer said. “We see several possibilities here: first of all it is authentic and came from Beria. Following that assumption, we can be fairly sure that Russia was going to follow through with the promise. The second option is that the letter is authentic, but the Russians were setting Wagner up. Following this line, they had no intention of supplying resources to the Gauleiter. The third option is that the letter is a forgery. It would be logical to assume the Russians created this since they are known for doing things like this. However, it does not make logical sense for them to have done it. Therefore, it was a forgery created by Wagner’s people for his own purposes.”
“Or, by the English,” Goering commented.
“That would be a reasonable option,” Rainer replied. “They would certainly be capable of a false-flag operation. However, there would surely have been some follow-through, and that didn’t happen.”
“And to which theory do you subscribe, Karl?” Goering asked.
Rainer bit his lip for a moment in thought. “It’s my feeling that the letter is genuine.”
“That gives us a casus belli,” Goering said. “We would be justified in attacking Russia over this.”
Schloss twisted his mouth in thought. “Yes,” he said slowly, “we would.”
“And?” Goering asked. “You are playing games again, Herr Reich Chancellor.”
“No, Hermann. I agree with you that we have a reason to go to war. The reason I called the meeting this afternoon was to listen to your thoughts on what we should do about this. Going to war is one option.”
“Well, what else would we do?” Goering asked, leaning forward and placing both hands on the table. “I do not want a war, meine Herren, but I also do not think we can simply ignore this.”
Schloss looked around the table. “What do the rest of you think?”
“I think this confirms, or at least adds weight to our suspicions about the Russians,” Peter said. “I think Stalin is looking for an excuse to attack us. I think we need to stop talking around the table and decide what we are going to do about it.”
“Well said, Peter,” Schloss commented. “He’s right, you know. We’ve been kicking this thing ar
ound long enough. The Reichsmarshall has been working to get our forces to readiness, but if we let Stalin make the first move, it will leave us at a disadvantage.”
“As you know,” Reinhard Gehlen stated, “most of our information about what the Russians are doing is coming through diplomatic sources. That is how the English have found out about it. But, I am working very hard to get something from the sources I have in Russia. It is important that we determine when the Russians will kick off their offensive, if it is going to happen.”
“And I don’t think there is much doubt it is going to happen,” Peter added. “The games they are playing with our commerce are getting worse.”
“Where we had in terms of our strategic stockpiles?” Schloss asked, looking at Ribbentrop.
“Nowhere near where I would like to be,” Ribbentrop replied. “The oil situation is beginning to look better. The oil strike in Libya was very good news. We are a couple of years away from having a refinery in Libya. But, we think we can begin transporting crude oil to Italy within the next six months. They can refine it there, and ship it to us via the rail networks. It’s not ideal, but it is workable. Once the pipeline to the coast is complete, we will be able to move larger amounts of oil. We will need to make some decisions soon about the refinery.”
“We are getting iron ore out of Norway, and the Swedes are selling us as much as we can purchase. We are probably not going to be able to get much from the Americans since they have their own war to fight. The South Africans are friendly, and we no longer have the English interdicting our Ocean trade. We are also exploring other sources in Africa.”
Schloss thought about his project with Werner Heisenberg and wondered if the man’s project would deliver nuclear weapons in time for a war against Russia. Another thought came to mind.
“How are things going with the V weapons program?” He asked, looking at Goering.
