Der Kampf: The Rise and Fall of the Austrian Führer
- Thread starter Tanner151
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I feel like a Sozinatification of Austria simply isn't big enough to cause a coup in Hungary, unless Hitler directly tries to fund it, which in itself isn't too conceivable either. So I understand why you think it's unrealistic @Tanner151 . However, I also don't think having them as close allies would really work either or be too realistic in that sense.
Perhaps a movement similar to Sudetenland, but much faker and more exaggerated could take place?
Or maybe Hungarian politics simply get infested with pro-Hitlers and some sort of re-unification like Ausschluss ?
Those don't seem THAT realistic either...
In the end it's your choice but I would like Hungary to become Austrian territory.
Perhaps a movement similar to Sudetenland, but much faker and more exaggerated could take place?
Or maybe Hungarian politics simply get infested with pro-Hitlers and some sort of re-unification like Ausschluss ?
Those don't seem THAT realistic either...
In the end it's your choice but I would like Hungary to become Austrian territory.
No, the Austrian State will be a ethno-nationalist fascist state that will be firmly anti-monarchist. Karl I of Austria has survived (I keep forgetting to give him a PoV short to describe that) and he will be anti-Sozinat, and will lead a resistance from afar. No idea whether or not Austria will become a monarchy again post-Austrian State, I haven't decided yet.
Yes, correct. The Hapsburgs, and the old Austro-Hungarian aristocracy, will largely be anti-Sozinat, but many former nobles will joins the Sozinats for oppurtunity or even ideological belief.
Ahhh. I didn't know that. So maybe Skorzeny proposes the commando unit and is the "commander" at HQ in Vienna while Otto-Harald Mors leads the field unit. It doesn't say if Mors was Austrian or German, so perhaps I can have him be Austrian here unless you know if he was in fact German.
Have a good name for this commando unit? My placeholder is Werwolf . They will be created in probably 1937/1938 as Austria here has to use every resource or strategy available to succeed and has to become a bit more creative to make up for lack of manpower and industry compared to OTL Germany. Not only could they help with military campaigns, but possibly also political assassination, initiating rebellions, economic sabotage etc.
What are some ranks I can have for my Staatschutz (SS). They are the same as the OTL SS in areas of responsibility. Think OTL SS ranks would work here or should I need to come up with new ones? Instead of a Reichsfuhrer, the highest rank will be Staatprotektor which will be held by Kaltenbrunner.
Hitler here will be rolling 6s for the first few years. This is done with incredible luck, a foreign policy that doesn't necessarily threaten France or Britain, French fear of a resurgent Imperial Germany, and his political and territorial goals are going to seem moderate and reasonable, at least compared to OTL Hitler.
That's what I'm leaning towards, but it might be where Horthy is in command until partway through the war and Hitler has him removed/imprisoned and the Arrow Cross Party takes over. That's what happened in OTL, but you know the saying, "The more things change, the more they stay the same."
Hitler will fund and support Sozinat efforts in German-speaking areas in Europe and support politically Sozinat/fascist movements elsewhere.I feel like a Sozinatification of Austria simply isn't big enough to cause a coup in Hungary, unless Hitler directly tries to fund it, which in itself isn't too conceivable either. So I understand why you think it's unrealistic @Tanner151 . However, I also don't think having them as close allies would really work either or be too realistic in that sense.
Perhaps a movement similar to Sudetenland, but much faker and more exaggerated could take place?
Or maybe Hungarian politics simply get infested with pro-Hitlers and some sort of re-unification like Ausschluss ?
Those don't seem THAT realistic either...
In the end it's your choice but I would like Hungary to become Austrian territory.
If Austria takes over Hungary, it wouldn't be outright annexation, more of a protectorate with Austrian oversight or at the very least an alliance. For Austria to pose a major threat to Central/Eastern Europe it will need Hungarian manpower, industry, resources, and farmland, etc,
I'll have to consider all the options before I finally settle.
<CLASSIFIED>
But in all seriousness Hitler will support Sozinat/fascist groups in German speaking areas, including but not limited to Germany.
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Otto-Harald Mors was apparently a Bavarian. He was born in Egypt, and later became an officer in the Bundeswehr. He died in Bavaria.
Per German Wikipedia, his family was from Baden in southern Germany. Apparently it was part of a long line of officers and civil servants. His dad was the police prefect of the Khedive of Egypt, while his mother was from Lausanne in Switzerland. At the outbreak of WW1, his mother and the family fled to Switzerland to avoid internment. The family moved to Berlin in 1922. Mors joined the Reichswehr and then worked his way up there and in the Wehrmacht. Joined the Bundeswehr after it was formed and died in Bavaria.
So sadly probably not an option. Unfortunately, my knowledge of the Austrian military lags far behind that of the German one. Wilhelm Höttl was one of Kaltenbrunner's Austrian cronies in the RSHA's foreign espionage section and seems to have worked for US Army Intelligence after WWII, but he was a spy type and an administrator, not a commando.
Regarding the unit name, I guess it depends on whether you want a dramatic one like Werwolf or a more official-sounding (but more boring one) one. The RL special forces unit of the present-day Austrian army (the Bundesheer) is called Jagdkommando (abbreviated JaKdo). Translated this basically means hunting commando (Jäger is German for hunter and was used as a term for light infantry, specialised irregulars etc.). Werwolf fits Hitler's affinity for calling stuff 'wolf' though.
Re ranks, I think SS ranks would work overall. I'd have to do some digging to see if Austrian paramilitaries came up with any similarly idiosyncratic ranks of their own. If you want something different and have an idea of what you'd want it to be in English, I can provide a German translation. Or give feedback if you have a German name in mind.
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Supporting Sozinat in german/slavic countries might actually put Adolf in a better position here
If he only supported the fascists in Hungary then he would surely be seen as the one behind whatever coup happened there, while he supoorting all those groups would make him look like just a ideologically consistent leader supporting similar movements just like the socialists and conservatives are doing, so if one happened to pay off it's just a coincidence
If he only supported the fascists in Hungary then he would surely be seen as the one behind whatever coup happened there, while he supoorting all those groups would make him look like just a ideologically consistent leader supporting similar movements just like the socialists and conservatives are doing, so if one happened to pay off it's just a coincidence
Ah. Maybe he could form a similar role in the Imperial German Army.
If anything Höttl could be Skorzeny’s deputy but the one who actually runs it while Skorzeny is the visible commander.
Hmm as for the Werwolf concept, I might shelve that name as I don’t want everything in Sozinat Austria to be called ‘Wolf’ something so I might go with Jagdkommando. I might stick with SA/SS ranks.
Mhmm. Hitler and Mussolini will support various fascist movements more so than OTL, if either to be a puppet/allied government or to act as a third column in countries they invade.
Quick question to you all: do y’all have any Austrians who think have potential to play a role or at least a mention here in the story? Either someone who would be pro-Sozinat, neutral or anti-Sozinat.
Specifically do you guys know of any Austrian-born U-boat officers in the Kriegsmarine that could be captains/commanders of U-boats in the Austrian Volksmarine during the Second Great War.
And in OTL the Germans used big cat names for some of their panzers. For Austria I was thinking they would use snake names: Viper I, Viper II, Viper III, Cobra, King Cobra. Sound good or would another animal sound better?
Specifically do you guys know of any Austrian-born U-boat officers in the Kriegsmarine that could be captains/commanders of U-boats in the Austrian Volksmarine during the Second Great War.
And in OTL the Germans used big cat names for some of their panzers. For Austria I was thinking they would use snake names: Viper I, Viper II, Viper III, Cobra, King Cobra. Sound good or would another animal sound better?
Will anyone be worried about hitler before shit hits the fan?
OTL for example Winston Churchill and a few others were worried about hilter from the getgo and warning about him. In this TL with him leading a country not seen as much of threat will this not be a thing?
also an interesting note regarding Latin America fascism
Peru and Ecuador had a territoral dispute that they fought over during OTL ww2 and then again in the 90s
Argentina has territorial disputes with Chile and great Britain that they planned to and did fight over In the 90s respectably.
this is I hope useful information for planning the future of the region ITTL.
@Tanner151
EDIT regarding Austrians one who served as a lilasion officer in the German army rose to become UN secretary General .Kurt Waldheim.here depending on your personal interpretation he can be either a hero for the resistance or a scheming junior official .Fredrick katz would be young at the time but OTL he was the best biographer of Pancho villa and famous historian in mexico.maybe he could something.
OTL for example Winston Churchill and a few others were worried about hilter from the getgo and warning about him. In this TL with him leading a country not seen as much of threat will this not be a thing?
also an interesting note regarding Latin America fascism
Peru and Ecuador had a territoral dispute that they fought over during OTL ww2 and then again in the 90s
Argentina has territorial disputes with Chile and great Britain that they planned to and did fight over In the 90s respectably.
this is I hope useful information for planning the future of the region ITTL.
@Tanner151
EDIT regarding Austrians one who served as a lilasion officer in the German army rose to become UN secretary General .Kurt Waldheim.here depending on your personal interpretation he can be either a hero for the resistance or a scheming junior official .Fredrick katz would be young at the time but OTL he was the best biographer of Pancho villa and famous historian in mexico.maybe he could something.
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well the POD could mean he survives.I could see regional leaders like King Alexander of Yugoslavia being concerned, but he'll be assassinated in 1934 so I doubt if he has concerns, they'll be taken seriously.
Alexander I of Yugoslavia - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
if we’re doing that King Albert I lives and Franco-Belgian alliance is a thing. Free and clear butterflies, given the circumstances.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Eight
A Fresh Start
Aboard the Albanian ship Shans i Dyte
Somewhere in the Indian Ocean
January 1924
A Fresh Start
Aboard the Albanian ship Shans i Dyte
Somewhere in the Indian Ocean
January 1924
Of all merchant ships the Austrian government could have contracted to carry its newest Ambassador to Japan, an Albanian merchant ship was an awkward choice considering the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s occupation of it during the war.
Yet what made it worse, as Hitler scowled looking out over the horizon of endless blue-gray ocean, was that though the ship was chartered with Albania, it was in fact a former Russian ship by the name of Pride of Crimea (Gordost' Kryma). The ship had fled Russia over three years ago following the collapse of Pyotr Wrangel’s White government in Crimea.
Now it sailed under the Albanian flag, though the crew was a mish-mash of largely Russian and Albanian, with a handful of other nationalities, many of whom had one reason or another to despise him and the nation he represented.
It was a calculated insult by the coalition government. It had to be. Hitler momentarily entertained that it might have been pure happenstance but leaving Vienna with as many high ranking enemies as he did, Hitler knew it was purposeful.
Not only did they not berth him on an ocean liner or private ship, they put him on a half-rusted merchant ship crewed by people that had only several years earlier had fought the Empire.
He would have laughed if it were not such a poignant reminder of what he had been forced to become by outside factors. An Ambassadorship was a great honor, even if it were to some Asian backwater such as Japan.
No. He closed his eyes. Japan was not a ‘backwater’ but it was not Germany, England, France, the United States or even Italy. Not a country of proper civilization at all. Yet Japan was an Asiatic Tiger. It was a country that had been ruthless in its exploits, aligning and breaking agreements on a whim to further its territorial and political expansionism… and one that had humbled Russia two decades ago. He could respect that, at the very least.
Hitler watched the ocean, feeling strange to be on a ship surrounded by water for kilometers in all directions. His thoughts, unsuccessfully, went to the Titanic. Even though circumstances were different, he could not shake the quiet fear of drowning.
He accepted he would die one day, either of old age or by assassination, but to die at sea, with nothing of note having been done for his beloved Austria was anathema to him. As a result he had spent much of the trip in his quarters, mulling over his new status.
Only Lieselotte has lightened his mood. She had brought meals to him, consoled him with vibrant discussion and tutored him over his grasp of Italian which remained, above all, atrocious. To thank her, he taught her some rudimentary Hungarian, using the German-to-Hungarian dictionary he had brought with him. He doubt he would ever be a masterful speaker of the Magyar tongue, but he could make himself understood after the years of study.
On the first night aboard ship the captain, a Russian by the name of Yuri Spestov, had invited him to dine as per common courtesy. Yet Hitler had declined, claiming motion sickness from the uncommonly rough winter waters of the Adriatic Sea.
It was a weak lie but Spestov had accepted it. Hitler scowl morphed into a frown. Spestov had seemed polite, and thankfully many amongst the crew seemed to have left Russia out of spite, and fear, of Lenin and Communism. Of that, Hitler shared with them fervently.
Four years however…for four years he had fought the Ivan during the Great War. He could not simply forget that. He had shed blood against the Russians, and lost friends and comrades to their guns. He could not, he would not, forget. It would take some time to adjust.
A knock on the door leading to the deck where he stood disturbed his thoughts.
“Yes?” he said, turning to look. His secretary opened the hatch door and walked to stand beside him, leaving it half-closed but open enough for Hitler to see a shipmate leaning lazily against the interior bulkhead.
“Your Excellency,” Lieselotte’s near-husky voice was undeniably attractive but her use of his formal address made him raise his eyebrow at her. She gave a small smile. “Captain Spestov would like to formally invite you to dine with him this evening.”
He opened his mouth to refuse but stopped. If he was to be on this rust bucket excuse of a ship, the very least he could do was become friendly with the crew. Besides he needed to do more than brood in his cabin or walk about the deck wishing to set foot on land.
“Very well.” Hitler looked past her to the shipmate. “Tell your captain I will dine with him.”
“He does not speak German, Your Excellency,” his secretary whispered.
“Ah. Then how did you-?”
The man spoke in what Hitler knew to be Italian. Lieselotte responded in his stead, sparing Hitler the attempt that would have only been embarrassing.
When the crewmen left, he glanced at Lieselotte.
“The captain, he speaks German?”
“He speaks with a thick accent but yes, he is fluent enough in German.”
“Good. I will get ready then.”
+ + +
Lieselotte Aigner tidied up the Ambassador’s cabin while he was away at dinner with Captain Spestov. The man was a visionary, but what he made up for in natural charisma and oratory skill, he clearly lacked in maintaining fastidious quarters.
She did not mind. She had always enjoyed cleaning. Never the mess, but the removal of it. Putting things back to the way they deserved to be… that was a comfort, something she could control. And control over something was a crutch she had leaned on heavily since word of her brothers and father’s deaths had reached her in the final months of the war. It had been a difficult time. The loss had broken her mother, and it wrenched at Lieselotte’s heart to see such a strong and proud woman laid so low in spirit.
Matters only became worse when Martha Aigner became sick with the Spanish Flu not long after. As she wasted away, her daughter had never felt so helpless and hollow. Once she had buried her mother, Lieselotte was determined to survive, one way or another.
Ironically enough after she arrived to Vienna she became a fervent nationalist. The capital was a city rife with political posturing and ideological street battles in which many seemingly ignored, or worse forgot all those lost in the war, yet it was also alive. Alive with purpose, with energy, and beliefs. It did not take long for her to be attracted to National Liberalism. The NLF declared things she wanted to hear. A strong economy, pro-Austrian business, creation of a distinct Austrian identity to rival that of the Germans, and the return of the Fatherland to that of a Great Power. She wanted those things so as to show that her brothers and father did not die for naught. That fighting and dying for Austria had not been a waste, but rather a patriotic duty.
When she joined the Front, her knowledge of language and secretarial skills earned her a spot at the Hold. As she was in the beating heart of of the party, she felt some of her fervent nationalism… dim as she witnessed political in-fighting and men jockeying for personal power rather than setting their sites on the issues at hand.
It was at some Central Committee meeting that things began to change once more. There she finally met someone who matched the ideals so desperately prayed for by thousands in Austria. The woman who typically took the meeting’s minutes was out sick so Lieselotte was brought in to do so that day.
They had been discussing some matter of doubtless import to them. She recalled being in-and-out, paying just enough attention to write the information down but not enough to process it with care as she had concluded much of what they did was pointless drivel.
Then Adolf Hitler began to speak, countering a point another Committee member had made. He was gruff, blunt, filled with a self-righteous anger, and aggressive in stature but also confident, charming in a way with boundless charisma and unrelenting focus.
It had sparked her interest. His drive, persona and faith in Austria stirred something within her, calling her to aid this man onto whatever path God had set out for him.
With her faith in the Front weakened from its in-fighting she turned all her efforts to this dark haired man. He had a magnetism about him that drew her to him like a moth to the light. It had happened to others as well, a small but loyal group forming around the former Stabsfeldwebel.
Hitler, or Adi as he kept telling her to call him when not in the company of others, did not care for this venture to East Asia, seeing it as a waste of time and away from his power base. Lieselotte nonetheless saw it in a more positive light. While he wasn’t in Vienna, he would be largely left to his own devices in Japan. Valuable governmental experience, establishing a relation with foreign officials. Yes there were negatives, but there were also a host of positives.
Finishing, she purviewed the room before nodding in satisfaction. Hitler had been at dinner for over an hour, which showed a successful meeting between him and the Russian captain. Maybe it would help reconcile Hitler towards Russians as a whole, she thought. The Russian people weren’t their enemy, their governments were.
Not knowing when he would return, Lieselotte decided to go to the upper deck and watch the ocean waves. Arriving outside railing she noted the water was rougher than it had been earlier that day, the sky a dark gray of a burgeoning storm. The ocean before was a deadly mistress, a sight to behold for a young woman from Bludenz who had never seen the ocean until she boarded Shans i Dyte a few weeks ago.
She stood there for perhaps an hour, feeling the wind pick up, churning the water. Overhead lightning flashed and thunder roared in the heavens. Rain began to spatter down, first as a few isolated droplets but as the minutes went by it picked up in tempo, the rain beginning to become a torrent.
She was sheltered from much of the rain by an overhead metal sheet but she was starting to get pelted by the cold droplets blown her way by wayward winds. Sighing, she turned to return to the warm, and dry, cabin of hers.
Yet a man stood in her way, blocking the hatch that led inside.
“Oh, um, hello,” she said in German. The man didn’t say anything. She said ‘hello’ in Italian, French and Spanish to no avail.
The man just stood there, smoking a cigarette. The only light coming from it, the nearby light flickering on and off. She swallowed nervously.
The man said something though in a language she did not recognize. Lieselotte began to move slowly towards the next hatch. But the man reached out without hesitation and grabbed her. She cried out but the storm drowned it.
The man hauled her towards him, and she could smell the cigarette smoke on his clothing and the alcohol on his breath. His eyes were dark and hooded, face sallow and grim. He leaned towards her and spoke in heavily accented German.
“Austrian bitch.” He pulled out a knife, the blade catching the flickering light and the blue-white arcs of lightning above. Lieselotte began to cry, tears streaming down her face, but lost in the puddles of rain.
He threw her against the wall, slamming face first into the metal, stunning her, and she cried out in pain. Her head throbbed as he put the knife to her throat with one hand, while with the other occupied itself groping her then hiking up her rain-damped dress.
Lieselotte found herself frozen, unable to act as the knife continued to press against her throat. Was this how she was to die? Raped and killed, her body tossed overboard?
It wasn’t fair. She hadn’t worked this hard and endured so much to suffer such a fate. As she became more and more angry she mentally prepared herself. She would kick him in the groin and try to escape, calling for help and attempt to find Adi.
But she would die. She could already feel a minor cut on her neck, blood dripping down to her breasts. He would kill her before she got too far. But… at least she would die on her own terms. Taking a deep and somewhat calm breath, she felt herself become emotionally still. She controlled her destiny, no one else. If she was to die, better a quick murder than a brutal rape and whatever would follow.
As she made up her mind, a thunderclap seared through the air and she felt wetness hit her from behind. The hand holding the knife went limp and she immediately moved away from it, hand reaching up to touch the gash on her neck.
Panicked and confused, she turned and saw Adi, standing there with a gun in hand with Spestov and the man she knew to be his first mate standing behind Hitler, both appearing concerned and curious.
Hitler moved to her, pulling out a handkerchief and applied it to her neck as if it were a military field dressing. Lieselotte glanced at the man who tried to rape her. He lied on the metal floor, blood gushing out of the hole in his skull. Rainwater carried the blood outwards over the railing to fall into the ocean below.
Spestov moved over to check the dead man. They had flashlights in hand and she could see the Russian captain’s face. He turned and spoke to his first mate.
“Arridhaois.” The first mate spat on the corpse in response. Spestov turned toward Hitler, who Lieselotte noticed had not put away his pistol and was staring accusingly at the two Russians.
“Herr Hitler, I want to stress that this creature,” he gestured at the dead man, the so-named Arridhaois, “acted alone and does not represent myself or this crew. He was hired three months ago, a man with a criminal record from Macedonia. I was going to fire him on our return to Europe.”
Hitler glared. “You knowingly hired a criminal? This is outrageous. He could have killed Liese!”
Spestov raised his hands in calming deference.
“A thousand apologies, Herr Ambassador. You may lodge a complaint with my firm when we next make port. The man was a self-serving parasite and for my failure to keep an eye on him you have my deepest apologies.”
Hitler stiffened but Lieselotte touched his arm. She felt his tension lessen.
“I… accept your apology, Mikhail.” Hitler sighed. “I place no fault on you or your company.” Hitler looked at the corpse. “Sometimes mistakes are made and I won’t hold that against you.”
Lieselotte was thankful for the poor lighting so no one could clearly see her shocked face. Adi was being kind and understanding to a Russian. She had only known Adolf Hitler for a couple of months but his detestment of Russia was well-known within the Front. It seemed dinner had been a very good idea indeed, helping mend any mistrust on Hitler’s part of Spestov being a Russian, after all Lieselotte thought, the man was an ardent anti-Communist which doubtlessly appealed to Hitler.
“How do we explain the body to your crew? It won’t bode well for my diplomatic career to have killed a man on a foreign vessel. Word of it will spread before the reason why it happened will.”
“Killed a man, Herr Hitler?” Spestov adopted a toothy grin. “No such thing happened. Though once we reach port I will have to inform my superiors in Albania that Crewmate Arridhaois was walking the deck drunk during this stormy weather and fell over the railing. Isn’t that right, Ivan?”
The first mate also spoke German and joined in quickly. “Yes, terrible shame. I saw him fall over myself. Being lost in the ocean at night when we wouldn’t be able to find him in such violent weather. A tragedy to be sure.”
Lightning flashed and Lieselotte saw Hitler’s face. It was pleased, relieved, and conspiratorial.
“Thank you, my friends.” Hitler holstered his pistol and shook their hands. “Now, let’s make our fiction a reality. Grab his legs, Mikhail, I’ll get his arms.”
Bruneck, South Tyrol
Kingdom of Italy
January 1924
The shovel bit deep into the cold-hardened earth. It was followed by two others who mirrored the act into the rich and frozen Tyrolese soil. A dozen men stood there beneath a tree while several more kept watch farther out on any who might witness their activities.
Three were shoveling snow and dirt as three more waited their turn when their comrades grew tired. All were armed with pistols and knives. Laid up against the tree trunk were two score rifles wrapped in waterproof material.
Jakob Kuhr kept watch, eyes scanning over the moon-kissed hillside. Nothing moved but the trees and brush in the wind. If there were Italians out there, they were being very quiet. Or they could be waiting for the guns to be buried and then attack.
Kuhr turned back and looked at the hole his men had been digging for over an hour. It now reached about two meters into the ground, about as wide as man holding out his arms to either side.
“That’s deep enough. Grab the guns and put them down there. Hurry.”
The now wrapped, watertight rifles were placed carefully in the ground alongside several boxes of ammunition, a handful of grenades, and even three FIAT Mod. 1915 submachine guns local sympathizers had been able to get their hands on, alongside a couple of magazine clips for each. They had handed the guns to Kuhr and his men not long after he arrived, feeling he could do the most good with them due to his military background.
Eventually the weapons had been stored and the hole filled with dirt. Rocks and tree branches were laid across the offer more camouflage to better cover the disturbed earth. Kuhr looked in the gray sky and thoroughly hoped it would snow tonight.
He had arrived in South Tyrol only a week ago, moving slowly through the countryside on foot with the men Hitler had assigned him. All were Wolves, most South Tyrolese, and all committed to carrying out Hitler’s orders to the letter. After all, the Commander had earned their trust and loyalty. If South Tyrol was to ever rejoin Austria, it would be Hitler’s doing. And they must aid in that endeavor.
Admittedly, a train would have been far quicker but if twenty armed Austrians, all of whom had been part of a militant paramilitary organization that had partook in armed resistance against a foreign power, had been caught with guns leaving Austria and entering Italian-controlled territory, it would have caused a major diplomatic incident. His beloved Austria could not fight a war, not in its dilapidated state. Especially not against a former Entente nation. Austria’s military actions in Carinthia had been tolerated, barely, but that had more to do with Yugoslavian aggression than anything else.
As they trudged through the snow, Kuhr reflected on matters. It had taken longer than he would have liked to establish contacts with nationalist locals but he was able to eventually, placing his men throughout Bruneck to live with true patriots. As part of their cover, each Wolf was to find employment, make it appear that they were a peaceful and contributing member of society. For now, they waited for the appropriate time.
Many detested Italy’s control over Austrian land and would act friendly towards the Wolves. In time they would join the burgeoning resistance Kuhr was told to make. The weapons they buried were for when local acts of sabotage and boycotting evolved into armed resistance. It would take time but the moment would come. For the Black Wolf had commanded it so.
Berlin, Germany
German Reich
January 1924
German Reich
January 1924
Snow fell in droves outside. Lutjens huddled in his apartment, covered with blankets and wearing several layers of clothes to try and stay warm. He sat close to the heater which was set on low. The end of the month was fast approaching and he barely had enough money to pay the rent, let alone the utilities.
He was desperate. He might have enough money for now, but unless something changed, he would be unable to pay the next month and then he would be evicted. Paul Lutjens would just be one more homeless man with no money, living and dying on the streets. There were many out there. Everyday the police found new frostbitten corpses with nothing to their name but old coats and torn rags.
Lutjens shuddered in the miserable cold, his breath fogging in the air.
“Ah, damn it all to hell.” He turned the heater up a notch. He could afford that. Most likely. “If I die and go to Hell, at least it’ll be warm,” he muttered.
To keep his mind clear, he grabbed the newspaper to read. It was picked up that morning when he walked back from his construction job, who had notified him and thirty others to ‘take the day.’ It was a more polite way of saying ‘not enough work, go home without pay.’ He’d rather be out working in the cold, earning something rather than sitting here freezing his ass off, nothing left but poor quality food and chilled misery.
Reading the paper, Lutjens frowned. Things could be worse, he admitted as he scanned the paper.
The headline was ‘Upheaval in Bavaria!’ Reading through the several page article, Lutjens shook his head.
It seemed the newly formed fascist Free German Workers’ Defense League was flexing its muscles in Bavaria. The FDAS was liberally using its Brownshirts, the SA, in squashing political opponents not only in northern Germany but also in southern Germany, particularly in major cities. The SA, having been founded in Bavaria, were not an unknown sight but the past few weeks had seen an increase in their antagonistic activities. Their propaganda campaigning was noticeably more coherent and, as a result, more effective.
The paper described the most recent attack by the SA on a Bavarian People’s Party rally in Munich. While not uncommon, this one left seven people dead and over sixty wounded. This led to much rioting by far-left and far-right elements, some in protest of the FDAS, others in support.
Gustav Ritter von Kahr, recently elevated to Staatskommissar (State Commissioner) by Minister-President Eugen von Knilling to restore stability to the state, used his dictatorial powers to mobilize the Bavarian State Police. Von Kahr used them ruthlessly to crush the rioters and protect vital infrastructure from any form of vandalism or sabotage.
Elements of the Reichswehr under the command of General von Lossow were aiding the local authorities, much to the chagrin of ranking Reichswehr officials in Berlin, or so stated the writer who authored the article.
The tactics used by the SA reminded Lutjens of what he read about methods the Heimatschutz and Hitler’s Wolves used back home. It shouldn’t have been this way, he concluded. The Great War was supposed to end all wars, but all it seemed to do was lay the foundations for future conflicts.
Lutjens sighed.
He wished his friend well, and was glad that Hitler seemed to be rising up in government, but knew that trying to convince Adolf Hitler to accept the status quo was like trying to wrestle a hungry lion.
According to Hitler’s last letter, he was leaving for Japan and it would be several months until the next one. Lutjens was glad that they still corresponded, that final link to his time in the Landwehr. It felt like a lifetime ago. On occasion he had wished he had gone to Carinthia with Hitler and his paramilitary. But he didn’t. He chose another path.
He had come to Berlin to take care of his sister and her family, and he did so until she remarried and moved away, leaving him a two bedroom apartment he could barely afford. From time to time, Lutjens contemplated returning to the Austrian Vaterland, but the appeal always faded. There was nothing left for him there.
All Lutjens wanted anymore was peace. Four years of hell was enough for him. Peace… and some heat. He hesitantly reached for the heater but stopped when a knock sounded from the door.
Frowning, he stood and moved to the door, blankets still bundled around him. He cracked it open.
“Yes?” he asked, voice hoarse from disuse.
A very short woman with blonde hair and brown eyes looked in at him. “Hallo,” the woman shivered. “Jesus, it’s colder in there than outside.” She shrugged. “Are you Paul Lutjens?”
“Yes,” he said, bemused. “And you are?”
“Ursula Winkler.” The woman handed him a piece of paper. “I saw your notice needing a roommate. If you’ll have me, here I am.”
“A woman?” He glanced at the paper, indeed seeing the flyer he had posted around the neighborhood. “We don’t know each other. It wouldn’t be proper.”
Ursula rolled her eyes. “If you hadn’t noticed, Paul Lutjens, the year is 1924, not 1824. Don’t act like such an old woman about propriety. I cannot stand such nonsense.”
Lutjens raised an eyebrow, surprised by her directness. “Can you pay?”
“Yes. I have a steady job. I’ll never get rich off of it, but it is consistent.”
“Paper or specie?”
“A mix, but usually specie, sometimes food too.”
“What do you do?”
Ursula gave him a look. “That’s for me to know and you to mind your own business”
“Fair enough.” Likely a prostitute or some erotic dancer, he thought. They were common enough in Berlin. “When can you move in?”
“Now.” She pushed open the door with one hand, the other holding a suitcase, Lutjens stepped back to grant her access.
“Which one-“
“There,” he tilted his head at the empty bedroom on the other side. She moved and glanced in.
“This’ll do,” she said, sounding pleased. She went back out into the hall and hauled in two more suitcases and a shoulder bag. “Here,” she handed him an envelope. In it was nearly a half-billion Papiermark.
Lutjens breathed a sigh of relief as he saw it.
Ursula hauled her stuff to her room, Lutjens offered to help but the woman quickly declined. “I’ll pay you at the end of every month. Next time it’ll be half specie, half Papiermark.”
“That’s fine.”
Ursula finished bringing her things to her room, leaving it half-open, and promptly began unpacking. Lutjens sagged with relief as walked back to the heater and turned it up higher than it had been in weeks. Though he now lived with a complete stranger who all but invited herself, at least the apartment would be warm again,
And at the end of the day, that was all that mattered.
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Hitler will be viewed as a threat by Churchill and others, but compared to the threat of Japan who starts the Anglo-Japanese War (Pacific War) in 1940 before WW2 breaks out, well Churchill and co will be focused there.
Very true.I could see regional leaders like King Alexander of Yugoslavia being concerned, but he'll be assassinated in 1934 so I doubt if he has concerns, they'll be taken seriously.
Alexander I of Yugoslavia - Wikipedia
There is that chance for sure. I’m not 100% of his fate yet.
A Franco-Belgian alliance is possible, but when war breaks out they’ll likely form an alliance anyway, possibly pre-war as well to keep an eye on Imperial Germany.
Ustashe will be used as a convenient scapegoat and tool by Hitler. He’ll want a more stable Croatia as a puppet then a Ustashe-led one. Though the Ustashe could stick around as a fringe element. Depends on how things play out.
two relationships hinted eh?
love the focus on individuals as characters
makes the story feel real
now hitler is less anti Russian maybe and like OTL he's just a little racist towards Japan
of course he won't be ambassador at the time but..
oh I just realized something.since Japan will as you said be portrayed as the big bad by the US/UK this is your way of putting your protagonist in the center of action for the story and perhaps building another web for Hitler since his warfighting will be focused on such alliances. heck Japan did have sorta political parties.Maybe he finds a faction to ally himself with.
given the german portion of the chapter
might we see a brownshirt/black wolf cooperation?
great or given hitlers new job should I say excellent chapter
and as always I look forward to more !
love the focus on individuals as characters
makes the story feel real
now hitler is less anti Russian maybe and like OTL he's just a little racist towards Japan
Hmm hitlers ambassadorship of course will have nothing to due with this ?
of course he won't be ambassador at the time but..
oh I just realized something.since Japan will as you said be portrayed as the big bad by the US/UK this is your way of putting your protagonist in the center of action for the story and perhaps building another web for Hitler since his warfighting will be focused on such alliances. heck Japan did have sorta political parties.Maybe he finds a faction to ally himself with.
given the german portion of the chapter
might we see a brownshirt/black wolf cooperation?
great or given hitlers new job should I say excellent chapter
and as always I look forward to more !