John F. Kennedy Assassinated in Berlin, June 1963

wolverinethad

This is a short story I wanted to post positing this theory. I am going to lay out my belief as to how things happened, and hope all of you will join in.

*****

June 23, 1963: John F. Kennedy flew to the Federal Republic of Germany, the first stop on a European tour that was a mix of work and play for him. Germany was a delicate situation, especially with French President Charles de Gaulle's push for French independence from NATO command structures and nuclear strategy. The fear was that France's actions would convince West Germany to do the same, and therefore endanger the Western defense of West Berlin from the Soviet Bloc. Kennedy had gone to West Germany to demonstrate American resolve to defend West Berlin and stand with the NATO allies.

Kennedy landed in Bonn, and was met by delirious crowds lining his motorcade route. The young American president convinced Ludwig Erhard, the soon-to-be Chancellor, to stand up in the open car and wave to crowds calling his name. Fate was on his side that day, but it would soon call his name.

June 26, 1963: John F. Kennedy arrives in Berlin. Before his speech at the Rathausplatz, Kennedy climbs a guard tower on the West Berlin side of the Berlin Wall, with no one but the American commandant, General James Polke. He looks upon the emptied streets, and spies a couple of windows open suddenly, and women waving their handkerchiefs at him. Kennedy's last words, spoken to Polke, proved bitterly ironic for some. "Isn't that dangerous?" he asked, and Polke replied, "Yes, it is." A second later, a Stasi sniper inside one of those apartments fired the bullet that ended the life of John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

As Kennedy fell, dead instantaneously from a bullet that transited through his left eye, Polke scrambled off the tower. People were screaming and stampeding away from the Wall. In the President's limousine was a radiophone, which Polke used to call his headquarters. Hugh Sidey of Time magazine commandeered a radiophone in the motorcade to call his bureau offices, breathlessly reporting the murder of the President as he gazed over the Berlin Wall. Time's offices wasted no time in contacting the wire services, and less than ten minutes after the shooting, the bulletin went out from the Associated Press, United Press International, and Reuters.

Upon hearing the news, a pregnant Jacqueline Kennedy collapses from the shock of the news and is taken to Walter Reed Medical Center. A grief-stricken Bobby Kennedy calls his parents in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. Joseph Kennedy, the patriarch of the family, paralyzed by a stroke two years prior, sits silently in his wheelchair, tears streaming down his face.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet is called into emergency session by Secretary of State Dean Rusk (the senior officer of the Cabinet per the line of succession), and Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson is sworn in as President by Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren. The men unanimously determine a public statement aimed at Moscow must be broadcast swiftly, demanding answers to this act. The wording of the statement, however, proves difficult.

In Moscow, General Secretary and Premier Nikita Khrushchev is horrified at the news and calls for his limousine to be brought immediately so he can visit the American Embassy and personally swear innocence. Khrushchev is unaware that his Presidium is turning against him, and KGB Chairman Vladimir Semichastny prevents Khrushchev's vehicle from arriving at the Kremlin offices of the Premier. The guard forces of the Premier report to Semichastny, and as he is part of the plot that orchestrated this moment, he will not allow it to be upset. Soon thereafter, Leonid Brezhnev, Alexei Kosygin, and Semichastny walk into Khrushchev's offices and announce he is under arrest. He is being taken to his dacha in the Crimea, where he will be kept, peacefully, under house arrest. Khrushchev spits at their feet as he is led away.

Back in Berlin, the Berlin Brigade has been fully mobilized at the Wall. The bulldozer tanks that General Lucius Clay had exercised two years ago, practicing how to knock down the Wall, are lined up, along with a number of M48 and M60 Patton tanks. If General Polke gives the word, they will go crashing through the Wall. This may be how the Third World War begins.

In Washington, D.C., news of Polke's orders galvanize the Cabinet, and newly-minted President Johnson orders a strong statement released, demanding answers from the Soviet government within 12 hours as to how President Kennedy was killed, with "the gravest consequences to result" if a satisfactory answer is not received. This statement convinces millions of Americans that a nuclear war is imminent, and panicked citizens converge upon grocery stores, sporting goods retailers, and department stores. Secretary McNamara, with the President's approval, calls up the National Guard to active duty, deploying many of them across the nation to keep order. The Reserves, meanwhile, begin boarding airplanes which will first head to the United Kingdom, pending potential deployment to Germany.

More to come shortly (for fans of Rejection and Revenge, I will finish it, but wrapping up everything has proven harder than I realized, so I'm hoping this little diversion breaks the writer's block)...
 
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Theoretical_TJ

:eek:

I do not envy the new hardliner government getting to negotiate with the mean, intimidating, and utterly effective wheeler-dealer in LBJ. The Warsaw Pact will pay a very bitter price for this foolishness.
 

wolverinethad

June 27, 1963: President Johnson's demands are not answered, hours after their public release. The message was sent over every radio circuit America controlled, in a fashion that the Soviet Union couldn't possibly miss. The lack of reply becomes its own proof for America. The Soviet Union is daring the West to go to war over Kennedy's assassination without concrete proof, in the eyes of the Cabinet. Johnson asks for options, but realizes they are slim even as he asks. The Joint Chiefs, predictably, are calling for a full nuclear strike on Moscow, with Air Force Chief of Staff Curtis LeMay being the most belligerent, as he has been on this subject for years. McGeorge Bundy, National Security Advisor, objects, pointing out that the world would not accept a nuclear strike without definitive proof, especially since America, again, would have been the nation initiating a nuclear attack. Secretary of Defense McNamara advocated moving into East Berlin if the shooter were not turned over within six hours. Events, however, were soon about to overtake them.

In Berlin, the Soviets had moved up their own tanks, under the command of General Ivan Koniev, a veteran commander of the Eastern Front in World War II, who'd been sent to Berlin prior to the Wall being put up two years ago by Khrushchev. Koniev and Polke were both armored warfare experts, as Polke had won numerous decorations as a major and colonel during the war leading an armored battalion, and if a battle came, neither would be in unfamiliar territory. Many tank battles twenty years prior had taken place in cities, so a battle in Berlin would not be a new experience. This sort of standoff had taken place back in October 1961, but the tanks had been withdrawn by a cautious Kennedy and Khrushchev. Kennedy was now dead, Khrushchev was under arrest, and neither of their replacements had the same amount of caution.

What happened next would long be debated.

On the west side of Checkpoint Charlie, an American soldier started to snap under the stress. He kept mumbling to himself with a wild look in his eyes, but in all of the chaos, it had gone unnoticed. Meanwhile, on the other side, a young Soviet private was adjusting his position aside a T-55 tank when he stumbled and his rifle went off. The American soldier suddenly dropped to a knee, yelled, "They're shooting!" and began firing, killing two Soviet soldiers. The Soviets returned fire, and suddenly, there was a battle in the middle of Berlin, 18 years after the Soviet Union had conquered the demolished city. Tanks and soldiers were firing at close range, and both sides had advantages and disadvantages. The M48's on the American side had only partially been upgraded, meaning that half the tanks were using the old gasoline engines which had an unnerving tendency to easily explode when fired upon. Furthermore, all of the M48's had a 90mm main cannon as opposed to the 105mm on the Soviet tanks. The Soviets, though, had limited mobility with the 105mm cannons, and they had no shielding for their ammunition, which made turret hits just as deadly for them. Casualties were heavy in the first few minutes before the Americans started using their mobility and engineer tanks punched holes in the Wall, creating openings and obstacles. Reinforcements that had been ordered up overnight by Polke from divisions in Western Germany had been allowed to pass through by the East Germans, at the order of the Soviets, who didn't want conflict to occur before they were ready (or so they thought at the time). The British and French brigades in West Berlin were serving as strategic reserves. Because their basing was not outside of the city, like the Soviets, the American reinforcements made it to the Wall first, allowing the Americans to overrun the Soviet/East German troops and roll into East Berlin. Polke's goal was to quickly push towards the headquarters of the Soviets to find evidence of Soviet complicity in Kennedy's assassination.

When the battle broke out, word flashed out of Berlin very quickly over both military and media circuits. The news landed in the Situation Room at the White House like a thunderbolt. By one aide's count, there was a full thirty seconds of silence. Finally, Johnson broke the silence. "General LeMay, inform SAC that I am declaring Defcon 1. Take all necessary actions to get our atomic forces in place. Bob, send orders to....hell, who's our commander at NATO?" "General Lemnitzer, sir." "Tell Lemnitzer to get all our forces closest to the East German border and prepare them for an attack. We're in it now, so we need to go all in."

Moscow was slower getting the word because Soviet communication systems were fragile. However, once they did, they made similar moves, ordering all forward-deployed Soviet divisions in East Germany to move towards Berlin. Koniev temporarily pulled back, leaving Soviet headquarters in the city while directing East German units to hold off the Americans until reinforcements arrived. He was especially concerned about the British and French moving up and routing his remaining forces in the city. He made sure that the orders he'd received the day before were removed from his safe before he left Berlin.
 

oberdada

Sounds interesting.

One question: Why do you give away the identity of shooter? It takes away a lot of suspence for the reader...
 
Historyman 14

Historyman 14

So how are things in Cuba in the middle of this? The rest of Western Europe reaction to this whole mess? Ludwig Erhard? de Gaulle? Harold Macmillan?
 

wolverinethad

Why did I give away the identity of the shooter? Because this isn't meant to be an overly long story. It's a fun exercise, and I'm looking forward to input.

As for Europe, the answer coming up next!
 

wolverinethad

June 27, 1963: Konrad Adenauer and his successor, Ludwig Erhard, confer in Bonn. Adenauer did not want a war, not so soon after rebuilding Germany from the rubble it had been not even twenty years ago. However, the situation made the choice for him. The Bundeswehr was mobilized to Alert Level One, while the Territorialheer (West Germany's version of the National Guard) was mobilized via radio and television broadcasts. It would be hours before the Bundeswehr could take the field, as the idea of war warning had been blown away by events the day before. Adenauer and Erhard pray that Soviet troops aren't overrunning the inner German border by then.

In Berlin, Polke's forces quickly search Koniev's offices, and discover some useful items, but nothing demonstrating Soviet complicity in Kennedy's assassination. Polke begins to worry about the safety of NATO brigades inside a city surrounded by enemy forces. He radios SACEUR (General Lemnitzer) in Mons, Belgium, begging for reinforcements. SACEUR informs General Polke that he's dispatching low-level fighter patrols to watch over Berlin's western border as divisions prepare to invade East Germany. Lemnitzer further tells Polke that there is no guarantee he will receive relief and he should make preparations to defend his command, as well as coordinate with the British and French. That last part will prove to be somewhat difficult. France's president, Charles de Gaulle, is notoriously independent, and he is furious at the rashness of the Americans in charging over and through the Berlin Wall. France has not deployed its Force de Frappe yet, its nuclear deterrent, and is dependent upon NATO, which does not help de Gaulle's mood. He orders France's military to take defensive measures only, and not join in any offensive measures.

Meanwhile, in Britain, a battered Harold Macmillan, dealing with the aftermath of the Profumo Affair, and struggling to hold onto the Prime Ministership, having barely survived a vote of no confidence a bare ten days prior, decided to throw in with the Americans. He deeply loved President Kennedy, seeing him as a younger brother, and was jolted by his assassination. He felt that the United States deserved whatever support the British could muster. He sent orders for the BAOR (British Army On the Rhine) to mobilize under NATO command, and participate in any actions deemed necessary by SACEUR. He further had his General Staff radio Berlin to instruct the British brigade there to answer to General Polke's command.

The split orders between the two would hamper Lemnitzer's plans for crossing the inner German border, but in Berlin, the French commander saw the necessity of working with the British and American brigades, and he informed General Polke that he was at his disposal. Polke decided to pull back across the Wall, and put his engineers to work creating defenses and obstructions. Berliners living within a one mile radius of the Wall were evacuated to Charlottenburg. The British and the French both fanned out to the perimeter areas to make it as hard as possible for the East German forces west of Berlin to be able to enter the city. This, of course, would make it more difficult for NATO forces to enter the city should they successfully drive for Berlin, but that would be dealt with when and if necessary.

In Moscow, the new cabal, led by Premier Kosygin, General Secretary Brezhnev, and Chairman Nikolai Podgorny, decided to surround Berlin and dare NATO to invade. They further ordered that any airplanes entering East German airspace were to be shot down immediately. Koniev was directed to have his forces cover Berlin while the East Germans (with some Soviet assistance) would watch the inner German border. Complete and general war was potentially hours away.
 

oberdada

wolverinethad said:
Berliners living within a one mile radius of the Wall were evacuated to Charlottenburg.
Click to expand...

You are talking about central parts of city, tens of thousands of people, a lot more if you also include one mile radius from western Berlin to the GDR ...

So I think this is not practical and would result in a lot of chaos.
 
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jolou

jolou

wolverinethad said:
That last part will prove to be somewhat difficult. France's president, Charles de Gaulle, is notoriously independent, and he is furious at the rashness of the Americans in charging over and through the Berlin Wall.
Click to expand...

Did you Know that De Gaulle was the first chief of state to support the US during the cuba crisis? And also that he have good relations with Kennedy?
 

wolverinethad

jolou said:
Did you Know that De Gaulle was the first chief of state to support the US during the cuba crisis? And also that he have good relations with Kennedy?
Click to expand...
oberdada said:
You are talking about central parts of city, tens of thousands of people, a lot more if you also include one mile radius from western Berlin to the GDR ...

So I think this is not practical and would result in a lot of chaos.
Click to expand...

Regarding the first, yes, I just finished reading a Kennedy biography, probably about the sixth of him that I've read. I also own multiple books on the Cuban Missile Crisis. When Kennedy went to Europe in 1963, de Gaulle was trying to solve Vietnam on his own and had just blocked Britain's entry into the Common Market. He was not being as cooperative as he'd been a year before. That was part of Kennedy's reason for the trip.

Oberdada, as far as Berlin goes, I referenced some maps. Charlottenburg was about two miles back from the Wall. I didn't mean to infer everyone along the entire length of the Wall, just those within the immediate area of Checkpoint Charlie. That was bad phrasing on my part.
 

oberdada

wolverinethad said:
Oberdada, as far as Berlin goes, I referenced some maps. Charlottenburg was about two miles back from the Wall. I didn't mean to infer everyone along the entire length of the Wall, just those within the immediate area of Checkpoint Charlie. That was bad phrasing on my part.
Click to expand...

That should work.
If you have any questions regarding the city, feel free to ask me.
 
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