Entering the Rhineland

Dublin Airport, Collinstown, Irish Free State, Wednesday, 2nd October 1940

Dr. Eduard Hempel, Ambassador of the Reich to the Irish Free State, was of two minds (at least) about the Führer. He had liberated the country from the shackles of the Dictated Treaty, given it power and dominion, and humiliated the English (which made him liked more here). He had gathered too much power into his own hands, put a total blithering nincompoop in charge of foreign affairs, and offended too many countries.

The summons to the airport, therefore, was most disturbing.

If the humiliation of England had been exhilarating, the subsequent humiliation of the Reich, in its laughable attempt to bring England to terms, had been melancholic. And then this dire abrupt silence from Berlin. What was going on?

And the message summoning him to go there, and to arrange security measures for important personages; was he to be the arbiter of a peace? The Irish authorities had been strangely reactive, but they had cooperated.

Now, the three Focke-Wulf Kondors flared out for a landing. From what he had heard, the pilots had been most taciturn and uncertain. Well, they would have to fly over France, which he had heard was in quite some stir, at night, and avoid the English fighters. Small wonder they had other things on their mind than talking.

He shivered in the autumn dawn breeze, and wondered.

A number of tough, hardened men in civilian dress abruptly emerged from the first two Kondors and surrounded the third. The Irish security seemed a bit disturbed by the sight.

Then, a man descended from the lead Kondor and strolled over to Hempel. He greeted the ambassador with a brisk, restrained formality. Hempel knew him well.

“I am surprised Herr von Ribbentrop has not come himself,” he said.

Herr Ribbentrop [he stressed the lack of a noble particle] has indeed come, but in somewhat of a different position. Herr Doktor Hempel, I must be put in immediate communication with London. Have the Irish granted our request for . . . special facilities? The Herr Foreign Minister and indeed the Cabinet are most particular about the matter.”
 
I'm eager to see where this is going.

Thanks for the compliment. Life has been . . . interesting of late, and I've been more slow, if not vaster than empires, but I do have an idea where this is going.

(Also some full-bore AH novels, but I fear they are unpublishable, not having Nazis-winning, zombies, katana-wielding vampire hunters in bare midriffs and leather bras & trousers, islands, states, countries, etc. being cast back in the sea of time and setting up either aristocratic empires or small-town republics . . . or any other of the currently fashionable tropes.)
 

Deleted member 9338

Wolfsschlucht, Bruly-de-Pesche, Couvin, Reichkomissariat Belgien, Freitag, 13. September 1940


The Luftwaffe planned to fly in an anti-aircraft division, which would defend the airbases which would serve as their supply line. Meanwhile, the Zerstorer units of the Luftwaffe would conduct economic warfare, destroying agricultural targets.

So what kind of targets are the Me110 going after?
 
Thanks for the compliment. Life has been . . . interesting of late, and I've been more slow, if not vaster than empires, but I do have an idea where this is going.

(Also some full-bore AH novels, but I fear they are unpublishable, not having Nazis-winning, zombies, katana-wielding vampire hunters in bare midriffs and leather bras & trousers, islands, states, countries, etc. being cast back in the sea of time and setting up either aristocratic empires or small-town republics . . . or any other of the currently fashionable tropes.)

Well, if you ever want another's opinion, I'm willing!:) About the ideas you've mentioned, I think combining them would make for one hell of a story!:D
 
Yeap, Liking it!

Well I started this thread awhile ago and now just caught up. Really enjoying the house of cards falling down. Makes me wonder who the special prisoner/"friend" will be in need of the facilities.

Keep up the good work and I would read any new stories you may create once your done here. :)
 
Dublin Airport, Collinstown, Irish Free State, Thursday, 3rd October 1940

“Is it after bein’ ‘Glen’ or ‘Glenda’?”

The driver of the Rolls-Royce glanced over his shoulder at the tall woman with the veil, and lap rug over her hands before saying, “Can’t you bloody well read the document! It’s ‘Glenda’! Lady Glenda Irwin!”

“There’s no need to be bein’ so nasty, English. Now pass on.”

The guard raised the barrier and the car moved into the airport. Under his disguise, the Right Honourable Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, Viscount Halifax, Lord Irwin, His Majesty’s Foreign Secretary, sighed. That blighter de Valera had whipped up anti-English hatred during the landings, and when the mad collection of German private armies had disintegrated, had become almost hysterical.

Yet it was his responsibility to travel here to negotiate with this freakish German emissary. The Cabinet had discussed, and had dismissed, eight different plans for sending Halifax to Dublin before settling on this one, which might well have come from some contrivance generated by that Socialist rogue Wells. And here he was, dressed as a woman, being driven from Belfast to Dublin. At least he could change in private quarters.

Half an hour later, the German negotiator sat down across the table. “The new government is making an extraordinary offer as a preliminary to the peace negotiations.”

“Should there not first be an armistice —” Halifax began, only to be stopped by an immensely anguished grimace from his opposite. “Very well, a cease fire. Only then can we discuss the terms of peace.”

They had indeed begun to cease naval and air operations, and as the two sides were not facing each other by land, this was easier than one might have thought. One still couldn’t trust that cad von Papen; hadn’t he started the entire mess, by working Hitler into office?

And now the cad said, “Would the Herr Halifax like to see the prisoners himself?”

Halifax got to his feet. “They are here?”

“Indeed. After Major Heinz and his storm troop interrupted the squabble of the competing commanders, since they were so inconvenient as not to resist, it was decided that turning them over to an international tribunal for trial would be an entirely satisfactory resolution to the matter, as well as an indication that the new government is indeed serious about making a break with the failed policies of the old one. Please step this way.”

Seeing that bounder Hitler manacled and wild-eyed, in the improvised cell, was quite the restorative to his flagging spirits.
 
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