Chapter 40: Berlin Race (3)
Translated by Vine | Proofread by Lust
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< German Civil War – Berlin Race (3) >
September 1, 1939
Northern Germany, Berlin, Schutzstaffel (SS) Headquarters
12:00
“These… damned…”
Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler threw down today’s edition of the Frankfurter Zeitung that his subordinates had brought for his review.
[The SS Attacks Germany!]
[SS Captain Naujocks and Agents Attack German Broadcasting Station]
[The SS Attempts to Plunge Germany into Another Great War]
Operation Himmler, carried out on Hitler’s orders to somehow start a war, had been completely seen through by the coup forces. With their attempt exposed, the public and the Wehrmacht were in an uproar.
“How in the world did those bastards know all about our plan!”
Himmler was incredibly frustrated. The Abwehr had provided the Polish uniforms and firearms used in the plan.
But how could they have known that the operation would take place in Gleiwitz and blocked it like that? He had no idea.
He couldn’t possibly imagine that a certain captain had personally pinpointed Gleiwitz as the ideal location to stage a Polish invasion, and that it was discovered after an Abwehr investigation.
“Heil Hitler! Reichsführer-SS! The Abwehr headquarters is completely empty!”
“What?!”
“I apologize, but all we found at the scene was the body of SS Lieutenant Colonel Bamler. Judging by the condition of the body, they appear to have left early this morning.”
Himmler clutched the back of his neck.
The discovery and media dissemination of Operation Himmler had been so swift that he had suspected the Abwehr of collaborating with the resistance. But the Abwehr had already cleared out while everyone was preoccupied with the Führer’s assassination attempt.
Their pretense of cooperation with the Nazis, even going so far as to appoint Bamler, whom the SS had planted there, as section chief, had all been a ruse to lull him into a false sense of security!
“Heydrich, that idiot ruined everything!”
Come to think of it, Heydrich, whom he had personally promoted and favored, had been ungratefully vying with him and openly displaying his ambition.
“Could it be… that he leaked the information and joined the other side…?”
Operation Himmler was top secret. At most, only Hitler, himself, the operatives, and Heydrich, who oversaw the execution, knew about it. If it had been leaked, even Heydrich couldn’t be trusted.
“Heil Hitler, Reichsführer-SS!”
“What is it now!”
Another SS officer entered while Himmler was lost in thought, and he reacted irritably.
“I-I apologize. A telegram…”
The officer hesitated, then approached and handed over the telegram when Himmler extended his hand.
[The SS training facility at Wewelsburg Castle is under attack by coup forces. Outnumbered, require support. – SS-Gruppenführer Paul Hausser]
“Damn it all…”
Wewelsburg Castle was a Renaissance-style castle located in western Germany.
Himmler had seized the castle and established an SS training camp, intending to transform his SS into a knightly order within Hitler’s grand Aryan nation. He envisioned himself as the grand master of this order.
His dream of a Greater German Reich under the seemingly close-knit, great Aryan Hitler, and himself as the honorable Grand Master of his knightly order, was crumbling.
Just then, the phone rang, and Himmler immediately picked it up.
[Himmler!]
Himmler brightened at the sound of Göring’s voice.
“Senior! We’re under attack! What should we do?”
Unlike Rudolf Hess, the nominal Deputy Führer, Göring was Hitler’s de facto successor and the second most powerful man in Germany. He was the closest thing to a national leader in this situation.
Furthermore, he was a comrade who had instigated the Blomberg-Fritsch Affair and the only person in the Nazi Party who didn’t clash with him. Göring was the most trustworthy person for Himmler at the moment.
[I’ve mobilized the Luftwaffe! We have to buy time until the Führer wakes up!]
“Can we trust the Wehrmacht?”
[We can’t trust those bastards! Only Reichenau!]
Himmler bit his lip.
“As expected, the regular army is unreliable. If the Führer had granted the SS more military authority, a more moral citizen army could protect Germany…”
After ousting Blomberg and Fritsch, Göring had attained his desired rank of Field Marshal, but Himmler hadn’t received as much authorization for the expansion of the SS’s military power as he had hoped.
It was a measure taken by Hitler, remembering the precedent of the SA, which had become too large and posed a threat to the regime. But in a situation like this, resentment toward Hitler welled up.
Of course, in the original history, the Waffen-SS, which Himmler established after the outbreak of World War II, talking about a “more moral citizen army,” gained unparalleled infamy.
[What are you talking about! You need to pull yourself together at a time like this! Mobilize the entire SS and defend Berlin!]
“Understood, Senior. I’ll trust only you.”
Of course, Himmler had no choice but to follow Göring’s instructions.
[And do me a favor. Public and military opinion is terrible. Even though those heinous traitors attempted to assassinate the Führer, there are rumors circulating that the SS was trying to start a war! Try to persuade Dr. Goebbels!]
“What is Dr. Goebbels doing now?”
[He’s sitting in front of the Führer’s room, praying! Isn’t this kind of smear campaign his specialty! He hates me so much, so please try to persuade him!]
Himmler let out a hollow laugh. Goebbels was competent but eccentric, fanatically devoted only to Hitler, and on bad terms with almost everyone in the Nazi Party, especially Göring.
“Sigh… Understood, Senior. I’ll try to persuade him.”
[Thank you, I trust you! I’ll try to negotiate with the Wehrmacht!]
Himmler hung up the phone and slammed his fist on his desk in frustration.
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The Frankfurter Zeitung Berlin branch, which had exposed the SS operation throughout Berlin and Germany as soon as the incident occurred, had already cleared out.
He had suggested shutting down that damned newspaper when Ribbentrop died, but Dr. Goebbels had blocked it, leading to this mess.
“Damn that idiot Führer fanatic, with his doctorate!”
Of course, he wasn’t one to talk about fanaticism.
–
September 1, 1939
Central Germany, 9th Military District Kassel, Frankfurt, Provisional Capital of the New German Government
20:00
As the long day drew to a close, I returned to Frankfurt after successfully raiding Buchenwald concentration camp.
So many of the released prisoners were in poor condition that it took considerable time to transport them, even with vehicles.
Regardless of the time, the Frankfurt headquarters was brightly lit, like broad daylight.
“Ruhr industrial area secured!”
“General von Witzleben will advance to northern Bavaria and General von Hammerstein to southern Bavaria, leaving the security of the Siegfried Line to the Free Corps!”
“General Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb’s army is engaging Paul Hausser’s SS at Wewelsburg!”
Inside the headquarters, people were busy receiving incoming reports, telegrams, and phone calls.
“Hausser is no fool. Our forces are small, so we can’t afford heavy losses!”
“But if we don’t capture Wewelsburg, a key SS stronghold, we can’t secure the 11th Military District!”
“If we leave them alone, General Lutz’s armored unit, advancing on Berlin, could be surrounded.”
While the staff were engrossed in discussion, Ludwig Beck was on the phone.
“Listen, Rundstedt. I was dismissed for demanding a re-investigation of the incident, as you requested! You’re aware of that, aren’t you!”
[Orders have come down to Army Group South, Beck. I ignored them for now, but Göring is at Army High Command. If orders come in the name of the Provisional Head of State, I can’t ignore them any longer.]
“We are trying to restore His Majesty’s government! Isn’t Manstein there? Didn’t you hear anything from him? Put him on.”
[…Let’s talk later.]
“Listen, Rundstedt! Don’t hang up! Hello…”
The call ended, and I saluted Beck, who looked rather discouraged.
“I’ve returned, Colonel General.”
“…You’re back, Captain Schacht.”
Once the operation was launched, Colonel General Beck had cast aside his indecisiveness and was working enthusiastically.
He was the one who had appointed the retired generals, Oswald Lutz and von Hammerstein. Many of the troops currently advancing on the front lines and the staff here had followed him because of his personal virtue.
However, even he and the key figures of the coup couldn’t abandon their rosy expectation that the Wehrmacht would join them once they declared the restoration of the Kaiser’s government.
“With all due respect, Colonel General, the banner of restoring His Majesty’s government alone will not be enough to garner support throughout Germany.”
Except for ardent democracy-haters and extreme monarchists like Dr. Goerdeler, most people were already accustomed to a Germany without the Kaiser.
The era of obeying the Kaiser’s every command was over.
“So, what do you intend to do?”
“While we will, of course, restore the monarchy, realistically, bringing back His Majesty, who is under scrutiny from Britain and France due to the last war, is difficult. We might end up making Britain and France our enemies in the middle of the civil war.”
Britain and France, informed of the Gleiwitz incident by the Abwehr, were furious and condemned the Nazis.
Not only that, but the Kordt brothers, stationed abroad, were working to create a positive impression of our new government, and the first impression seemed to be not bad.
At least for now, we were perceived by Britain and France as a German resistance movement standing against the SS trying to start a war and the Nazi dictatorship, and we enjoyed the support of anti-war sentiment.
Right-wing politicians in Britain and France might be salivating at the vulnerability of Germany in the midst of a civil war. But just as the German people and military feared another great war, so did the people of Britain and France.
The perception that war was inevitable due to the Nazis’ recklessness had been gradually spreading, but if Germany was fighting the Nazis themselves, there was no desire to step in and shed blood. That was the public sentiment in those countries.
But if we were to restore the monarchy and bring back the mustachioed Kaiser, Wilhelm II, who was seen as the culprit of the last war? It would be like handing Britain and France a justification to intervene in Germany, which was already in the middle of a civil war.
“Ultimately, victory in a civil war goes to the side that wins the support of the people. How about enthroning Crown Prince Wilhelm as the new Kaiser and rebuilding the parliament? We would enthrone a Kaiser but adopt a system like Britain’s.”
“What are you talking about! How dare you discuss the throne!”
Dr. Goerdeler, a staunch monarchist, flew into a rage and pointed a finger at me, but Ludwig Beck, although looking somewhat displeased, remained silent and listened.
“There are many well-known politicians among those rescued from Dachau and Buchenwald, including Former Mayor Adenauer. If we announce the rebuilding of a people’s government, they will all cooperate with us, and public opinion will follow. We can definitely turn it around.”
By exposing the Gleiwitz incident, they had captured the hearts of the German people who wanted to avoid war.
The tragedy that occurred at Buchenwald, soon to be revealed, was a horrific spectacle that would enrage any sane person.
If we could show that we were not establishing another autocratic Kaiser’s regime or a military-dominated government but a people’s government, domestic support would naturally follow.
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The Wehrmacht would decide its allegiance not based on whether it was Hitler or the Kaiser, but on who appeared stronger. So this was a fight they could win, if they were willing to accept it.
“Listen to this nonsense! Kaiser Wilhelm II is the rightful head of the House of Hohenzollern and the only one qualified to wear the crown of Germany!”
As expected, the hardline monarchist, Dr. Goerdeler, flew into a rage and vented his anger at me.
“How dare you discuss the throne! Do you think we’re trying to rebuild that weak Weimar Republic that was played by Hitler!”
“Then do you have a way to declare the Empire now and prevent British and French intervention?! They have been steadily rearming since the Munich Agreement! If we give them a reason for war, we’re finished.”
Everyone’s attention was now focused on us.
“Even if we enthrone the Kaiser now, the Wehrmacht’s support won’t come to us! They will ultimately pledge allegiance to whomever the people support! We have fewer troops than the Nazis, and the longer we drag this out, the more disadvantageous it becomes for us!”
At the moment, it might seem as if we had swiftly conquered western Germany with a well-planned operation and a perfect surprise attack, as per Manstein’s plan.
But their forces were small. The troops deployed on the Siegfried Line were not even a quarter, let alone half, of the forces prepared for the invasion of Poland.
They had civilian volunteers, but they weren’t enough yet, as public opinion hadn’t completely turned. Once the enemy recovered from the shock of the surprise attack and the Wehrmacht sided with them, it would be the end.
“On the other hand, if we raise the banner of overthrowing the dictatorship and rebuilding democracy in Germany, Britain and France will not be able to intervene in our civil war! Instead, we can gain support from them and turn the tide of the civil war in our favor.”
The Kordt brothers had consulted with the pro-democracy faction, including myself, before going to France and Britain.
What better campaign promise could there be for politicians in democratic countries facing elections than that their support had eliminated the threat of war and normalized Germany?
“Then the restoration of the monarchy in Germany will also be recognized by them! The restoration of the monarchy and the rebuilding of democracy are not mutually exclusive…”
“Urgent report!”
A staff officer, having received a telegram, came running while I was speaking.
“What is it?”
“Count Blumenthal has succeeded in assassinating Hitler!”
“Oooh…!”
The operation had been launched at dawn, but there had been no news until now, and the Nazi broadcasts only mentioned that the Führer had been attacked. The report had finally arrived.
And this news completely erased everything I had been saying from the minds of the leaders and began to instill boundless optimism.
< German Civil War – Berlin Race (3) > End
ⓒ Carcassonne
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