Serialized novel: OFFICER’S HONOR

[Franconicus]

Good points!
As far as I know there was no difference between 'normal' concentration camps and working camps for criminals. They were all disguised as working camps. Most of the Germans believed that all the people in the camps were criminals somehow.
Regarding Sepp Dietrich: First of all you have to find out if you can trust him or not. After all he is a Nazi and if he finds out that you killed A.H. he may get dangerous. Then he is more a soldier than a politician. He may fight for you but I doubt that you can use him for propaganda.
I think that you do not time to get all the Waffen-SS divisions and the other formations on your side. You must take them by surprise and have the power before they realize that you are a danger.

We can tell the thruth later. You sound like Gawain!

[Kagemusha]

About Dietrich i base my propaganda plan on this sentence from Dietrich:

When the meeting is over Dietrich stays for a moment: “Manstein, you can count on me. I know you will do your best to save Germany. So regardless what you intend to do, I will be on your side. I’d even protect you against other Nazi formations!” Then he leaves the room.

If you can convince its good for the Germany to turn against Himmler, i think he will do it.
In the Finnish tribe of Savo, we have a saying that truth is so precious thing that you shouldnt use it too much or you run out of it.

[Franconicus]

THE CAPITOL

30th June. When Guderian gets your message he knows what to do. Hitler is gone. Guderian has to get the initiative and “blitz” over the Berlin. Even though Guderian does not feel very comfortable he is bent on doing it.

First of all he contacts Generalmajor Fritz Bayerlein.

At the same time another person sits in his Berlin office thinking about the message he received today. It is SS Obergruppenführer Ernst Kaltenbrunner, chief of dreaded SD. He is thinking about the news Himmler gave him today. If it is true there will be tremendous changes in the country. Hitler dead? Göring dead? Who will be the next Führer? Himmler, of course! If Himmler gets promoted he, Kaltenbrunner, will be promoted too. All he has to do is keep the situation under control until Himmler’s arrival.

The phone rings. It is the officer on duty. He apologizes to heckle but he received just a call from a whistle blower. He told him that he heard through the grapevine that some communists are trying to start a subversive action this night. The rumor says that they will occupy the new Reichskanzlei and proclaim a democratic republic.

Kaltenbrunner shakes his head. Is this a joke? However - if Hitler was killed by political enemies…? Maybe they try to use the confusion for a revolution. Of course they do not have the slightest chance to succeed. The whole country is under control of the SS. But anyway – this might be a chance for Kaltenbrunner to demonstrate his loyalty. Himmler told him not to talk to anybody about Hitler’s disappearance. Alright! Then he will make it alone.

He calls the SD Task Force. 50 men, well trained and equipped, ready to do anything Kaltenbrunner asks them to. He leads them directly to the new Reichskanzlei.

In the middle of the night Guderian knocks at the door of Goebbel’s house. The servants try to reject him but he claims to have very important news. So he finally sits face to face with Goebbels. Goebbels is very confused that the general visits him so late at night and what he hears makes him even more confused. Guderian tells him that the Führer is dead, probably killed. What does that mean? Can the Führer die at all? Who killed him? All his enemies are dead or imprisoned. Guderian tells him that Kaltenbrunner and a task force of the SD was about to occupy the Reichskanzlei. He thinks that there is a putsch of parts of the SS. A putsch? From a group inside the party? That is the only explanation. But if Kaltenbrunner is involved Himmler is too.

Guderian keeps on talking. Together with Hitler there was Göring and Keitel. Göring? He was the political heir of Hitler. So who will be the next in the succession? Himmler?

Guderian challenges Goebbels to take the interim leadership. The situation is about to get out of control. The Führer is dead. His heir is dead. The leaders of the Wehrmacht and the Luftwaffe are dead. Himmler is trying to get the leadership. And one thing is certain: If Himmler makes a putsch without the involvement of Goebbels Goebbels’ life is not worth a dime if he succeeds. Goebbels finally resigns and asks Guderian what he wants him to do. Guderian puts a document on the table and says: ‘Sign this! It makes me the high commander of Wehrmacht and gives me the order to hold up order. It orders all authorities to obey and support me.’ Goebbels signs without contradiction. Then Guderian takes the phone and calls SS-Obergruppenführer Gottlob Berger, head of the SS Hauptamt. A couple of minutes later the man arrives. Guderian explains the situation. He demands him to support to keep order and to arrest the murderers of Hitler. Berger agrees.

In the meantime the SD task force had reached the Reichskanzlei. To their surprise they were surrounded by soldiers of the tank troops. They were arrested without any resistance. After that soldiers of the Panzerlehrdivision PLD occupy all relevant places in the town, stations, airports, crossings and broadcast stations. The PLD was formed just a couple of week ago. It consists of the tank training units Panzer-Lehr-Regiment 130, Panzergrenadier-Lehr-Regiment 901, Panzergrenadier-Lehr-Regiment 902, Panzer-Artillerie-Lehr-Regiment 130, Infantrie Regiment 9. They were relocated to Berlin during the last weeks. All officers were carefully selected by Guderian himself. The commander of the division is Generalmajor Fritz Bayerlein. He served with Guderian and Rommel and both rely on him.

After meeting Goebbels Guderian calls Bayerlein. Soon afterwards tank soldiers guard the house of Goebbels. The imprisoned SD men are thrown into a SS prison. They are guarded by soldiers of the SS and the Wehrmacht.

Guderian is satisfied with the result of this evening. The night is almost gone and his men control the town. He decides to sleep for a couple of hours.

Early next morning Bayerlein wakes him up. He tells Guderian that there was an accident last night. The SS guards heard that Hitler was murdered and that Kaltenbrunner was involved. The guards stormed Kaltenbrunner’s cell and killed him. The Wehrmacht soldiers could not stop them.

Bayerlein has started questioning the captured SD men. When they heard what happened to Kaltenbrunner they confess the conspiracy. Soon there are enough evidences against Himmler. You tell Bayerlein to proceed. You need more names of SS leaders. Then you call Manstein to inform him about the situation.

In the afternoon Himmler arrives at the airport. He is accompanied by a couple of SS men. When the Wehrmacht soldiers try to arrest them they start to shot. The machine gun of an armored personnel carrier ends the lives of Himmler and his men.

1st July. In the evening Goebbels makes a radio speech. He tells the people that Hitler is dead and that he now leads the government until a new one is formed. He also tells the people that the murder is part of a SS putsch.

During the next hours leaders of the SS, especially Gestapo and SD are arrested all over the country. Berger leads the interrogations with maximum brutality. Most of the prisoners confess. Although they claim that they were not directly involved they admit that they knew about the putsch and tell their guards names of other participants, who were more involved than them. So the list of convictable SS leaders is rapidly getting longer.

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Now the news is spread. How do you think the Allies will react? Stalin, Roosevelt, Churchill? What about the Axis?

[Kraxis]

Churchill and Stalin will not like this at all. A clear enemy is better than a reforming Germany, that might or might not continue the current situation.
Churchill will also hate this for the possible chances of a civil war, in which case the Russians might gobble up all of Europe easily.
Both of them can be expected to gear up their warefforts to take advantage of this, in the hope that the coup fails or the new government is weak and thus can't fight well.
Roosevelt, the naive and gullible man, will be gently pleased with this. He sees this as an end to the most troubling horrors. Chances are that he as a person might soften a bit towards Germany, being perhaps less inclined to accept the heavy strategic bombing.

Japan will hardly be bothered with this. They will stay their hand until Germany is stable, then send their assurances of continued alliance. They care little for internal German problems, as long as Germany is active and an ally.

Italy, and Moussolini in particular will definately not like this. Moussolini has come to depend more and more on the power and confidence of Hitler. He lacks a strong powerbase in Italy, so Hitler represented an assurance of his position in Italy. The Italian population on the other hand might actually be pleased, but they will not likely be more staunch in the war unless the coup is perhaps 'exported' to Italy. Problem is just that Italy lacks any successful commander that can nominally take over, so it seems slim that the Italians will actually continue when the invasion comes.
A strong backing for Moussolini is likely the best at the moment for our little coup.

Hungaria's leader, Admiral Horthy (yes an Hungarian admiral) will be shocked at the very least. He was relatively close to Hitler, and it was 'only' his personal relationship that assured Hungarian troops would participate in the east. This might change now... Unless good old Manstein can personally meet him and form a new personal bond.

Rumania is a tough one. The leadership is fairly weak, and might feel pressured to leave the war now that the looming presence of Hitler is gone. That can't be good, given the importance of the Ploesti oilfields. A new very friendly and more open relationship might just be able to salvage the situation there.

Finland couldn't be bothered less politically and personally (in regards to Hitler), but militarily it will clench it's jaw. As long as Germany fights strongly, she is happy. So any reaction for the Finns would be more of fear of Germany breaking down. You can expect swift backing for the new leadership from Finland for the sake of stabilisation.

The various localized Nazi parties in the occupied countries will most likely scream murder (fair enough actually), but they will be of little consequence as they have very little backing.

Sweden might actually become more friendly again, but don't expect any great leaps of trust. The Soviet Union is just over the horizon for them, they won't antagonize them. You might expect some unofficial recognition from them (along the lines of "thank God you got rid of that guy").

Switzerland will follow you with great interest. A fair bit of fear from invasion have been present, but with more sane people at the helm she might ralax a bit. But she will still be staunchly neutral, though Swiss volounteers might increase a bit.

[Kagemusha]

I think Kraxis pointed out the foreign politics very accurately and i agree with him. But how to continue from this point forwards. That is the tough question.
Now we have the power and and the SS have been neutralized. But the Nazi party is still in power.
So we need to think how to continue this coup and get rid of the Party. So we need a military coup now. Since we lack the Troops to take over whole Germany. I have an pretty radical idea. Since we need to show to the western allies that we want to get peace with them and we also need troops to prevent the Nazi party from getting its act together. I suggest we make a oneside ceasefire with the Western Allies and pull our military out of France.Netherlands and Belgium. It will create an power vacuum there and since many of the resistance groups are communists.It will lead into somekind of Communist coupe in the occupied France.That the Western Allies cant and wont allow.
For the German people we have to say loud and clear: The Soviets and Communism is our enemy.So we need to crack Goebbels to do that. Allies have to interfere into situation in France, and voila we have an common enemy,the communists and the Soviet Union. We also get our Western troops in Germany and after that we can do what we want with the Nazis. In East we have to remain in defence.But we dont need to have a static defence there anymore that Hitler insisted. We can actually start using some Strategy again in our manouvers.
Also we have to brake our alliance with the Japanese.Damned this is getting complicated.
exellent story Franconicus- san.

[Franconicus]

Welcome Kraxis! It is a honor and a pleasure to see you here!

I agree with your analysis about Rosevelt and Churchill. The big question is if they still insist on their 'unconditional surrender'? This is one thing the German generals would never accept.
I agree that Churchill will want to accelerate the attacks on Germany. However, what can he do? British strategy is not very flexible, more planned on the long run. I do not think he will land in France in 1943.
Roosevelt? Does he want to fight the Germans any longer. Risk the blood of US soldiers - what for? Maybe heavy bombing is enough?

The eastern countries are not a big issue. Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Finland, what are their options. If Germany looses the Soviets will eat them alive. No matter if they try to change sides. And if the Germans and Soviets find an agreement - this might be even worse.
Maybe I am wrong: http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1943/jul1943/f01jul43.htm

Japan does not bother me at all. Let them do their war.

kagemusha,

Together with the SS the NSDAP lost most of its power. Please note that all the police was controlled by the SS. That is past. There is no clear leader of the Nazis. We still need Goebbels to keep the party quiet. But we have to install a government as well. There should be some democrats in it.

What are the goals of Guderian and Manstein. Well, compared to Hitler they are saints, but they are still - let's say - German patriots. So they want to have a German domination in Europe. Hell, they fought a lot for that and now they should give it up? Remember that they still believe in a German victory.

Germany has two options. First, make peace with the US and GB. However, both will not accept that easiliy. First you have to get rid of Goebbels and second you must show them that Germany is willing and able to fight until the end.
The second option is to find an arrangement with Stalin. Maybe not your first choice, but if the western allies do not want to co-operate? But to come to an agreeement with Stalin you need a big victory first too.

Anyway, to make peace you have to beat the Soviets!

Leaving the occupied countries in the west is an interesting option. Of course this has to be carefully planned. And you must have the right timing! Or this will lead to a desaster!!

There are two other issues:
What are we going to do with the prisoners in the KZ? If we release them this might cause a civil war. Or at least weaken the will to fight. If we do not - then we are not better than the Nazis.
What are we going to do about the foreign workers? We need them to increase our production.