Chapter One Thousand Eight Hundred Eighty-Five
13th October 1968
Mitte, Berlin
Playing toy soldier was one thing, but Manny had never considered what would happen when he was pulled away from that detail having done his time in front of the tourists as he had been a couple months earlier. There had been a reason why he had been assigned to the First Foot Guard Regiment in the first place and as it had turned out it had nothing to do with his family connections. Instead, it was because he had trained with Sniper Section of the 7th Recon Battalion and he was expected to be second to the Hauptmann commanding the Sniper Section of the First Foot. The implications of that were driven home when he had been briefed by the Regiment’s XO and a representative from the Justice Ministry. If anyone on the team was ever forced to take a shot, he should expect a full investigation and a mountain of paperwork, and God help him if it couldn’t be justified afterwards while he was in charge. That was why Manny found the team he was now a part of to be the most professional he had ever worked with. It wasn’t just about being marksmen. It was about seeing every single detail and missing nothing. Looking at a crowd and seeing who looked out of place, whose actions seemed off, then determining if that person were a threat and if they would need to be eliminated that instant or dealt with by quieter means.
Today, as he was sitting on rooftop overlooking a parade route that ran down the avenue towards Brandenburg gate and scanning the street with his binoculars. He had a heavily modified version of the G44 sitting on a sandbag in front of him. The heavy target barrel and tuned gas system were not standard issue, nor were the ten power Hensoldt rifle scope or the suppressor mounted on it. This was the rifle used by members of the team who were not issued with the far more powerful bolt-action rifles chambered in 8.5mm Thorwald Magnum, the 6.5 x 38k cartridge being considered less likely to create collateral damage. Listening in as the team checked in now that they were in position. They were already occupying the most likely places a shooter might attempt to access and the less likely places were well known to them. In a short time, the parade would start, and the Emperor would be at the reviewing stand with his guests for the event.
“Lieutenant von Mischner” The Hauptmann called over the radio, his voice garbled by the encoder that the First Foot used on all their radios. “Why the Hell did you neglect to mention that you are personally connected to three of the VIPs in this event?”
Manny was a bit annoyed that this had come up.
“It’s my Father and Aunt Katherine as the guests of the Emperor Sir” Manny said, “It will not affect how I do my job.”
“Don’t try to minimize this Lieutenant” The Hauptmann said, “The Emperor, his guests and their families are attending this event, meaning that it will be your mother, sister and whatever cousins you have down there. Do I need to remind you that emotional connections result in fuck ups in this job?”
It was something that the Hauptmann had lectured Manny about when he had been reassigned. Anything that might cause him to hesitate when he was supposed to act could result in tragedy. They had to be perfect at all times while those they were up against only had to get lucky once.
“Your father is getting the PLM today” The Hauptmann said “So I’ll let you off this time, but if you withhold pertinent information from me in the future I will see you busted down to Soldat and put on permanent latrine duty. Am I clear, Mischner?”
“Yes, Sir” Manny said as he noticed the reflections from the other hides along the parade route. Everyone in the section would have heard that. The Hauptmann said that everyone under him was treated the same in that he would land with both feet on whoever caused him problems and he didn’t give a rat’s ass about rank. He had just proven it.
“I’m sending Bouchard up there to relieve you” The Hauptmann said, “Stow your gear and get to the reviewing stand.”
“Yes, Sir” Manny replied, knowing that the Oberfeld from Alsace had a mouth on him and that he would never hear the end of this. He was still a newly minted Lieutenant and that meant that the Senior Noncoms felt they had a duty to make sure that he was up to snuff whether he liked it or not.
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The KSK composed of the 28th Independent Fallschirmjäger Regiment, 91st Gebirgsjäger Regiment, and the 3rd Marine Recon Regiment led the triumphal procession through Brandenburg Gate followed closely by the 1st and 2nd Fallschirmjäger Divisions. They were the ones who had taken the city of Warsaw and had captured the Government ministers in the process, so they had the honor of leading the procession through the streets of Berlin. Elements of the various Army Groups would follow that would consist of units that had distinguished themselves. Hans had been happy to learn that included the 4th Panzer Division, which he still considered his home. For the Public, this was a chance to catch a rare glimpse of the KSK. There were already books, movies, and television shows about the secretive unit. To see them in real life was completely different.
For Hans, today was a long time coming. He had been in Spain, the entirety of the bloody Soviet War, Russia, Korea and China to bring the Second World War to a close, South Africa, Mexico, Korea again, and finally Poland over the course of his long career. While he had never had an itchy throat, it had been remarked upon that he lacked something that a man who had seen as much action as he had. Before they had made their way out to the reviewing stand, there had been a ceremony where Hans had been awarded the Pour le Mérite for his command of the operation in Poland. A pleasant surprise was that Manny’s CO had cut him loose in time for the ceremony and for a few minutes everyone was happy.
Beside Hans, Kat had stood seething. He knew that she hated medals. The gold wreath she had received for her PLM would tell everyone that she had been inducted into the Order twice and Kat said that it would be something else she didn’t want to have to explain. The real trouble was that it had come with a promotion and the loss of the KSK. Kat was now a General of the Parachute Corps and was going the be the deputy to the Commander in Chief of the Luftwaffe High Command. Tilo Schultz had gotten a gold wreath that was the same as Kat’s and seemed to have transcended his position in the Marine Infantry, no one knew what to make of him.
Hans had no idea what was going to happen to him personally. He would no longer have a field command after this and to rise any higher would require him to play the political game. Hans knew that he was no good at that and perhaps it was time for him to find something else to do.