Authors: Anthony G Williams
THE FORESIGHT WAR (53 page)
‘So,’ Oster breathed, ‘the question is, what
can we
do about it?’
Speidel grunted. ‘Rommel has been to see Hitler; he argued the case for negotiating with the British and Americans as strongly as he could. There was a blazing row. Hitler has dismissed him as disloyal and ordered him home.’
Oster turned again to Herrman. ‘You are in a unique position – he listens to you like no other. What can you do to help? How can we stop this tragedy?’
‘I have tried. I have warned him about so many things, but somehow events…’ He found it impossible to continue, his chest constricting.
‘We have had some indirect contact with the Allies,’ Oster continued, ‘not too encouraging so far, but at least they are listening and responding. They will not contemplate a peace with Hitler, but we think that there is a good chance that they would negotiate with us if he and his Nazi associates were no longer in command.’
Herrman’s memory flicked back in time.
‘That may be possible, especially if my – opponent – has encouraged them to listen. He cannot want the war to end with half of Europe under Russian control either. It will not be easy, however. They will not want to see Germany gaining anything from this war. But, believe me, even returning entirely to our nineteen-thirty-eight borders would be infinitely preferable to the alternative we are now faced with.’
The others were silent; severely shocked, Herrman realised. They had not been aware of the starkness of the choice before them.
‘Then the sooner we
act,
the better.’ Von Witzleben spoke for the first time. ‘We must save what we can, while we can.’
After the meeting, Herrman was returned to a street close to his flat. He walked home in deep thought, not noticing his SD minder – stationed outside his apartment building –
who
had been in a state close to nervous collapse. After the altercation outside the restaurant in which he had somehow become involved, Herrman had vanished for several hours. Then SD man had been torn between reporting his disappearance and waiting in the hope that he would turn up. Now he wasn’t sure what to do.
If he reported the absence, he would risk severe punishment for losing his charge. On the other hand, if no-one had noticed… he decided to keep quiet and thankfully awaited his relief.
Hitler was in a bad temper at the start of the meeting, which only became worse as Herrman tried to push his arguments.
‘I will NOT contemplate such a craven course of action!’ He shouted, the veins on his forehead standing out. ‘We have our V-weapons pounding London. We have our jet fighters hammering their bombers and we have jet bombers under test which will be uncatchable! We carry on fighting until we win!’ He paced angrily around the room.
‘First Rommel and now you!
Am I surrounded by defeatists?’
Herrman felt his sense of hopelessness returning. It seemed so obvious to him that now was the right time to deal with the Allies, to retain as much as possible of their gains, above all to keep the Russians and their army far away from the borders of Germany. But once with Hitler, he realised that such logic stood no chance. He bowed his head, and fell silent.
Far to the east, Field Marshal von Manstein regarded the map and considered his options. The Russian attack had been held, at some cost. The two armies had fought themselves to a stalemate of exhaustion and an uneasy truce reigned as they regathered themselves and repaired the damage to their forces. Neither would be in a position to launch another attack for a while. He considered the northern sector and grimaced. The British and Canadian forces there were small in number but very well equipped, highly mobile and well-led. He had tried several times to trap them into a standing fight, hoping to wear them down with strength of numbers, but each time he had found that Russians had taken their positions, ready to die as long as they could take some Germans with them, while the British withdrew and regrouped to plan their next point of attack.
He checked the schedules for reinforcements; they had been reducing sharply as resources were diverted following the Allied landings in France. Furthermore, of those sent to him a proportion was always lost on the way or delayed by damage to the railway. He was faced with the dilemma of whether to keep his strength focused on the front line but running short of supplies, or to use ever more of his forces in protecting the supply lines, several thousands of kilometres long.
He walked away from the map and looked out of his window at the city of Perm. It was most easterly of the Russian cities he had captured. As he contemplated the barrier of the Ural Mountains drawn across his path just to the east, behind which his opponents rebuilt their strength, he forced himself to admit, for the first time, that the German Army was never going to cross them.
Churchill glowered, clearly displeased. Don gathered his determination and ploughed on.
‘I know how you feel about leaving the Germans with anything, but believe me, the alternative will be much worse. If we carry on fighting until they give up, well, that isn’t going to happen as long as Hitler is in charge. He will fight on to the end. Apart from the devastation that will bring to Germany, it will also cause thousands of unnecessary casualties among our own troops and airmen. And it will inevitably result in Stalin recovering his authority and his territory, and achieving communist dominance over Eastern Europe. You surely cannot want that to happen!’
‘Doctor Erlang, I am well aware of the points you raise, but there are other issues at stake here. The President does not wish to deal with the Germans, and does not see Stalin as the threat that you do. Of course, I accept your word entirely about what he is like, but it is not easy for me to move Roosevelt. He is very sure of himself. Then there are the political aspects in both our countries. Can we really leave Germany as strong as it was before the war, if not more so, after fighting them for so many years and at such cost? The public would never understand.’
‘They might if Hitler was overthrown, if the Nazis lost power.’
‘That is a couple of very large ‘ifs’. The opposition you refer to is small and powerless by comparison with the Nazi machine. I cannot see them standing any chance of staging a revolt. They would have no popular support, and the Gestapo would crush them.’
‘That would depend on what they did, and how much of the army they could swing behind them. In their hearts, the German officer class must know that they cannot win this
war, that
its prolongation would just lead to more German defeats and suffering. And they have never had any respect for Hitler. We know that some senior and influential officers are behind this scheme.’
‘Including Rommel?’
‘No, whatever his disagreements over strategy, Rommel will almost certainly remain personally loyal for as long as Hitler is in power. Of course, if he were overthrown it could be a different matter.’
Churchill pondered for a while. Then he came to a decision. ‘Very well, I will talk to Roosevelt and Stalin about considering an approach from Germany for peace; but only after Hitler is no longer in power.’
‘That’s it, then. We have hope dangled in front of us, only to see it snatched away again.’
No-one disagreed with Oster’s summary. The secret meetings Herrman had continued to hold with the plotters had see-sawed in mood over the past weeks. First there was despair that Hitler was refusing to listen to reason. Then a cautious optimism that signals had been received via diplomatic channels that the Allies might be prepared to negotiate – but hopes had just been dashed again when it was made clear that they would not consider any talks while Hitler and the Nazi Party were in power.
‘We cannot just sit here and do nothing, knowing what we do about the fate which awaits Germany.’ Carl Goerdeler was depressed but determined. ‘We must at least make preparations – get as many senior Army officers as we can on our side; plan the moves we would need to make to take over.’
‘We have already done much of that. However, there is a limit; the more people we contact, the more certain it is that our activities will come to the attention of the RSHA,’ von Witzleben warned.
‘I know that, but time is running out. The Russians and their Allies continue to pin most our army down in the east, while in the West our forces are steadily being pushed out of France. It will soon be too late for Germany.’
Oster was thoughtful. ‘If the Americans and the British are willing to negotiate, they may be willing to help us. If we can tell them where Hitler is at a given moment, one Mosquito raid should solve the problem.’
‘Too risky.
He moves around at short notice. And if the first attempt failed, we would never get another chance.’
Speidel was right, Herrman thought; that would not work. He looked at his empty glass of schnapps, and at the inviting bottle,
then
carefully and firmly put the glass down. ‘We must try another way,’ Herrman said. I have an idea…’
Autumn 1943
Stadler looked concerned as he accompanied Herrman to the meeting room at the Eagle’s Nest. ‘I hope you know what you’re doing,’ he remarked, ‘the Führer doesn’t like such requests for meetings, particularly with all of the senior hierarchy present. It isn’t like you to be so dramatic, or mysterious.’
‘What I have to say is very important, and it concerns all of them. It is a message they must listen to, for the future of Germany.’ Herrman felt surprisingly calm, his constant sense of detachment sustaining him.
‘Very well, but I should warn you that Hitler is not as fond of you as he was. He is increasingly short-tempered these days. You had better choose your words with great care!’
In the room, Herrman looked around the faces staring at him with varying degrees of interest, curiosity and suspicion; Göring, Himmler, Goebbels, all there. Hitler glowered. ‘Well, what is it?’
‘Something I have remembered – well, not remembered exactly just pieced together from scraps of memory. I think it could make all the difference. It concerns a place near the Eastern Front line, not far from Perm.’ He walked over to the large wall map showing all of Europe and the USSR, a red line marking the current position of the battle front. ‘It’s easier to show you what I’m talking about.’ The Nazis walked with varying degrees of reluctance over to the map. Herrman turned to face them, waited until they were gathered round. He was acutely conscious of the view through the window behind them, autumn sunshine outside fading into a beautiful haze in the distance, the mountains looming on the horizon. He slipped a hand into his waistcoat pocket.
‘Well?’ Hitler said.
‘Stefan,’ said Herrman, and closed the circuit on the bomb which lined his waistcoat.
Stadler picked himself off the floor, covered with plaster from the ceiling, ears ringing from the blast. He looked through the wrecked doorway into the meeting room, gaping in shocked disbelief at the bloody shambles within. For once in his life, he had no idea what to do.
‘It’s as you predicted,’ Charles reported, ‘Goerdeler is the acting Chancellor, von Witzleben has assumed command of Wehrmacht. The plotters were prepared, of course, and moved very fast to seize control of communications before the Nazis woke up to the fact that they weren’t going to get any more orders from on high, ever.’
Don nodded, ‘It was a stroke of genius to declare Hitler’s death the result of a plot within the Nazi Party and to declare martial law. By the time the Nazis began to recover from the shocks, the army was in full control.’
‘How many senior Nazis have they arrested?’ Mary enquired.
‘Not too many; it seems that an awful lot were killed “resisting arrest”. Anyway, the Germans are still fighting on all fronts but Goerdeler has asked for an armistice pending peace talks. Winnie seems to have pulled it off; Roosevelt and Stalin have agreed.’
‘Sounds like a long and difficult period ahead.’
‘Maybe not so hard.
It seems that your opponent managed to talk some sense into the new German leadership before he died, just as you did to Churchill. The outline of a probable agreement is already taking shape. Basically, Germany will revert to its nineteen-thirty-eight borders with a few minor adjustments here and there to resolve outstanding problems. And Russia will be kept back within its border – as part of the deal, German troops will remain to keep order in the former Soviet states until they can be replaced by the Western Allies, pending free elections there. The Allies are guaranteeing their independence.’
‘I’m surprised Stalin agreed to that.’
‘He didn’t have much option. The alternative would have been for Britain and the USA to sign a separate peace treaty, allowing Germany to concentrate on Russia.’
‘Would we have done that?’
‘I don’t know, but Stalin was evidently convinced – probably because he would have done so in our position. Anyway, his forces were close to collapse; he really had very little bargaining power. He must be relieved still to be in charge of Russia.’
‘So what happens next?’
Mary laughed. ‘Next
comes
a walk in
Spring 1944
Don and Mary walked slowly up the hill, enjoying the crisp and cold Alpine air, Hope chatting happily between them. It had snowed during the past week, and the mountains dazzled in the thin sunshine. The buildings had been demolished; not because of the bomb damage, but to eradicate all sign of those who had once lived here. There was one exception, added at Don’s request. They walked over the level platform which marked the site of the building to a point in the centre, where a small gravestone poked above the thin covering of snow. The inscription was brief:
Professor Konrad Herrman.
Died