The Ten Thousand (50 page)
Kasper, used to such efforts to brush him aside, ignored the general’s rebuff. “This will not take more than a moment, Herr General. First I would like to apologize for the Chancellor’s ramblings and short temper. You see, Herr General, he has been under a great deal of pressure and is not well equipped to handle it.”
Though he felt like shouting back that everyone was operating under the same pressure, Lange merely grunted.
Though he saw the look of disdain in Lange’s face and felt in his heart Lange’s curt response, Kasper continued. “There is much concern with the manner in which the Army has been responding to orders.
The Chancellor is not pleased with the lack of drive General Kiebler has shown in close contact with the American Tenth Corps. The Chancellor noted several times over the past days the vast difference between the performance of the 2nd Panzer and the? ”
Lange cut him off, for he knew where the conversation was going. “General Kiebler is the commander of that division and he is carrying out his orders in a manner that he judges suitable for the situation, the enemy, and the terrain which he faces. I will not, so long as I am the chief of staff, second-guess my commanders in the field.” He was about to add that Kasper needed to tell the Chancellor that there was a vast difference between the view in Berlin and conditions as they actually existed in the field, but again he held himself in check.
Not that he had to. Kasper already understood what Lange was leaving unsaid. Seeing that there was little use in easing into the subject, Kasper opted for the direct approach. “What I would like to convey to you, Herr General, is that the Chancellor is losing his confidence in certain senior leaders. He feels that they are intentionally holding back, that they are in fact attempting to do everything within their power to allow the Americans to escape and embarrass this government. The collapse of the Luftwaffe’s command structure due to absenteeism, failure to follow orders, and the active sabotage of aircraft is only serving to heighten his suspicions.”
By “certain” senior leaders Lange knew that Kasper was referring to those of the old Bundeswehr who unlike the easterners had been lectured for years that being an officer in a constitutional army required more than simply following orders. Seeing that the shadow boxing was over, Lange also got to the heart of the matter. “Doesn’t the Chancellor appreciate the position in which he has placed us?”
Lange, now animated, thrust his index finger at Rasper’s chest. “You, Colonel, you are an officer. Don’t _you _ feel the pressure? Haven’t _you _ stopped to consider what’s going on here?”
Lange paused, turned his head to look out the door at the leaden gray sky, then back at Kasper.
What the hell, Lange thought. If he was here to feel me out for Herr Chancellor Ruff, he might as well get it all. Placing his briefcase on the tile floor next to his foot, Lange folded his arms across his chest and leaned forward closer to Kasper as he lowered his voice to a whisper. “My God, the Parliament has called for an immediate armistice, a call that Herr Ruff is happily ignoring as he continues to hide behind the emergency powers clause of the constitution. He, better than anyone else, knows! Every officer in the Bundeswehr, except for the easterners, has been taught that his first responsibility is to his conscience, and the selection process for our officers has always emphasized the need for officers who believe that morality and responsibility to the German people are more important than blind obedience. Every senior officer from the old Bundeswehr that I have talked to feels like he’s being pulled by four plow horses all going in different directions. Herr Chancellor continues to run blindly off into the darkness, dragging us and the German people into a crisis of his own design. The Parliament insists that it has constitutional control of the Army and that the emergency war clause does not apply. The German people and our responsibility to them are not being served by blowing up our own countryside, and they are making it known. And finally, most of the officers of the old Bundeswehr cannot in all good conscience support a government whose motivations they do not trust.”
Kasper listened in silence. He wondered if he had missed something. The frustrations of the German Army officers corps that Lange was pointing out to him were a surprise. Could they, his fellow officers, be so out of touch with the reality of the political situation? Could they be so absorbed by the military situation or their own mystical code of ethics that they did not see how precariously Germany’s sovereignty and future hung? Or was he the one out of touch? Were the rumors true? Had Ruff adopted a bunker mentality and refused to see the situation as it really was? Were his actions those of a man serving the German people or were they self-serving? Kasper’s head was still trying to absorb these questions when Lange continued.
“I do not know any longer, Colonel, what is right and what is wrong. Neither do the majority of the officers and the soldiers out there. Since the shooting started this morning, the debating has stopped.
Now it is time to decide. And I will tell you and anyone here in Berlin with the good sense to listen that I do not know what is going to happen.” Lange reached down and picked up his briefcase. When he stood up, he looked down at the floor rather than at Kasper as he continued in a very reflective, almost mournful tone. “As each unit closes with the Americans, our ability to influence the situation is slipping from our hands. Starting today, what is right and what is wrong is no longer ours to decide.” As he looked Kasper in the eye, Lange’s face grew taut. “That, Herr Colonel, will now be decided by each and every captain and lieutenant, every sergeant and every landseer on the forward edge as the battle is joined. Your Chancellor may threaten and scream, shout and stomp all he wants. He can even roll on the floor frothing at the mouth and chewing on the rug if he pleases. That, however, isn’t going to change a damned thing. It is, and probably always has been, out of our hands.”
Kasper began to say something, then stopped. He didn’t know what to say. For the first time, Lange realized that Kasper’s face betrayed the confusion that Lange had just created in the young colonel’s mind. Maybe, Lange thought, I have been wrong about this officer. Maybe he was after all really one of us? That he hadn’t had time to determine that before saddened Lange. It would have been useful to have a reliable officer close to Ruff. There was no time, however, to concern himself over what should have been done. The American President was preparing to announce her response to the opening of armed hostilities, and Lange wanted to hear it firsthand. That response no doubt would overshadow the events in central Germany that were still in the balance and cause Lange and his staff long hours of hard work.
As he had said himself, the debating was over. Now was the time of decision.
In a tone that was somewhat friendly, Lange excused himself and walked out into the cold Berlin afternoon, leaving Kasper behind to deal with his new concerns and, of course, Chancellor Ruff.
While she quietly sipped her coffee and listened to the White House spokesperson on screen deliver the prepared text, Jan Fields-Dixon glanced over to the President. She, like Jan, was listening intently to the spokesperson as she calmly sipped her second cup of coffee. Jan, used to working with politicians, knew this was a setup. She knew from the moment the conditions of the interview had been set that Wilson had something specific in mind and that she, Jan, was part of that plan. Still Jan, asked for by name, agreed. So with camera crew and notebook Jan tromped into the Oval Office fifteen minutes before the White House spokesperson was scheduled to go on and joined the President for a light breakfast of sliced fruit, danish, and rolls. The fact that the President was having her breakfast then and there made Jan suspect that she had been unable to have it upstairs in her private quarters before coming down to the Oval Office. Odds were, Jan thought, President Wilson had come up from the White House War Room instead, where she would have received an update on the current fighting taking place in central Germany.
Looking back at the screen, Jan watched as her colleagues from the White House press corps jumped up, to a person, madly waving their hands and calling out as soon as the spokesperson finished reading the prepared text. The camera couldn’t help but catch the crestfallen expression on the spokesperson’s face as he surveyed the sea of waving hands and tried to pick the easiest mark in the crowd. Again glancing over to Wilson, Jan smiled to herself. The President was no fool. She knew that the White House press corps would react like that. She knew that it would be impossible to control them. Therefore she had sent her spokesperson out to deliver the message and take the full brunt of the initial volley of questions while she, safely tucked away in the Oval Office, could watch and listen to the questions that the media felt were most pressing. Then with a single trusted member of the media, Jan, she would be able to answer those questions at her leisure in a calm setting where she would be able to think without competing with shouts, flashes popping, and hands waving to gain her attention. No, Jan thought, Wilson was no fool.
Wilson’s abilities and skill as a politician, of course, were well known. She was good. She had to be in order to survive in a world that was not only male dominated but one in which her abilities and conduct were measured against standards established by those who had gone before her, all of whom were male.
Jan had in a way highlighted Wilson’s problem when she had asked Wilson how she felt about questions like “Is she tough enough to handle Congress?” or “Will she be able to fill the shoes of her predecessor?”
during her race for the office. Wilson pointed out to Jan that skill and cooperation, not strength, were just as effective in dealing with people and securing their cooperation. Then with a smile Wilson also pointed out that she had no desire to wear her predecessor’s shoes, since their style was not to her liking.
Jan understood all of this, having had to deal with similar concerns and issues in her own profession.
So it was with a sharp eye that Jan watched Wilson as she redefined the image and role of the President to fit her. Though often accused of being “unpresidential,” Wilson seldom failed to carry the day and come out every inch a leader and a lady. Today, Jan thought, was a perfect case in point. Rather than throw herself into a situation that was already degenerating into a shouting match, one in which passions and tempers would run high and words could easily be misunderstood, Wilson had chosen to distance herself from that while still dealing with it. Jan watched Wilson’s face and her manner. Her face betrayed no strain, no apprehension. Instead, Wilson sat there rather impassively sipping coffee while studying the television monitor as she listened to her press spokesperson field the press’s questions. Jan would be able to record Wilson’s own version of those responses in a few minutes and then be able to have them on the noon broadcast, showing the nation and the world that the President of the United States was both in control of herself and the situation.
Turning back to the television, Jan listened, writing short notes in a spiral notebook that sat on her lap while she too sipped her coffee. The spokesperson, after finally succeeding in getting only one correspondent to ask a complete question, responded with carefully chosen words. “As I have stated in the text of the prepared statement, while President Wilson does not endorse General Malin’s actions to date, she cannot ignore the fact that German reaction today, the resort to force of arms to stop General Malin, is placing innocent Americans in danger. The deployment of forces from the Mediterranean and the United States and the heightening of the readiness condition of Air Force units in England are all in response to the German decision to open hostilities and are intended to save as many innocent soldiers of the Tenth Corps as possible.”
Another correspondent took up where the first had left off. He didn’t wait to be recognized or for the spokesperson to finish. He simply jumped up and shouted, “But Chancellor Ruff of Germany is claiming that the soldiers of the Tenth Corps by obeying Malin’s orders have made themselves willing accomplices to what he is calling a crime against German sovereignty.”
The spokesperson, with specific instructions on what to ignore and what to respond to, turned his attention to this comment. “Chancellor Ruff might be right. Even if he were, however, the President feels that using the German Army to destroy the entire Tenth Corps, something that Chancellor Ruff has threatened to do, is the same as executing a person accused of a crime without a trial.” The spokesperson paused, then added, “I would like to take this opportunity to point out again that even the duly elected German Parliament does not agree with Chancellor Ruff’s decision. The call for an immediate cease-fire and an armistice negotiated by the European Council or the UN is a reasonable solution that President Wilson is more than willing to consider.”
This last comment led to the next question. “Could President Wilson convince General Malin, who hasn’t been willing to listen to Washington thus far, to agree to a cease-fire?”
The spokesperson, with a wry smile, responded. “That, at this point, is mere supposition. So long as the German government insists on resolving the issue by force of arms, I expect General Malin feels he has no choice but to respond in kind. It is now the Germans who have the responsibility of making the first move.”
With that response, the balance of the press conference fell into a round of follow-on questions that attempted to draw out more details on the deployment of American forces to Europe. The spokesperson, not having this information, fended off these and other questions as best he could until they reached a previously determined time limit. Finished, he closed his folder and looked up; and over the chorus of shouts, he thanked the White House press corps and walked out of a room still reverberating from shouts of further questions. As she watched the manner in which her colleagues acted, Jan couldn’t blame Wilson for opting to sit this press conference out.