Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread II
- Thread starter Peabody-Martini
- Start date
They'll assign it to Grand Admiral Schmidt rather than Johann Schultz. They may see him as an agent, but as a lower level goon even. It will be a shock to them if he ever writes his biography...
Although if he does, I don't see it being published before 2000 or 25 years after his death, whichever is later.
Anyone remember the line from the old "Mission Impossible" TV show in the 1960s just before the tape self destructed:
"Should you be captured or killed, or agency will disavow any knowledge of your actions"
I think I read somewhere that former pilots from that era suffered an abnormally high rate of strokes as a long term side effect of pulling negative g maneuvers and flying at high altitude (low atmospheric pressure) in non pressurized cockpits. Sort of like boxers and American football players developing brain disorders years after retiring from their sports.
The Americans knew (At some level; we aren't sure who knows what; it certainly isn't public knowledge) about the bomb attempt we know the "Package" is a uranium core, and though I don't know, I would figure that the Americans know that the core was taken. The fact that there were "other" operations might be of interest. While spying even on allies (which the Germans and Americans are decidedly not) is normal and accepted (but don't get caught), the "operations" plural is what might be of interest. Outside of the bombing which would be overlooked, "operations" inside a foreign country you aren't at war with (thus I assume more than just normal intelligence gathering) is very bad form, and could lead to a massive loss of face for the Germans worldwide.
This is what I think happened.
The plutonium core was stolen from the Hanford Reactor and was reported to the Seattle FBI office but they don't know who did it.
Oppenheimer reports to the San Francisco FBI office that it was Teller who stole it and they don't know where he is.
There is not a big manhunt, but a request to local law enforcement agencies to report to the FBI if they run across Teller.
Chicago FBI finds the rotting corpse of Teller in a tub full of melting ice and nothing else as unbeknownst to them, Abwher has cleared out any and all evidence of what Teller has been planning.
Everything is gathered for an "Eyes Only" report to J Edger Hoover that has only one copy that concludes that Teller stole the plutonium core and was trying to double cross or was double crossed by a foreign power that Teller was working for, either ways Teller gets killed and the plutonium core is in the hands of an unknown and unnamed foreign power.
Hoover does not report this to President Dewey, the Attorney General of the United States and most certainly not the head of the OSS, Allen Dulles.
Hoover has either destroyed the file, has hidden the file and it has not been found yet, or he gave the file to Schultz.
The plutonium core was stolen from the Hanford Reactor and was reported to the Seattle FBI office but they don't know who did it.
Oppenheimer reports to the San Francisco FBI office that it was Teller who stole it and they don't know where he is.
There is not a big manhunt, but a request to local law enforcement agencies to report to the FBI if they run across Teller.
Chicago FBI finds the rotting corpse of Teller in a tub full of melting ice and nothing else as unbeknownst to them, Abwher has cleared out any and all evidence of what Teller has been planning.
Everything is gathered for an "Eyes Only" report to J Edger Hoover that has only one copy that concludes that Teller stole the plutonium core and was trying to double cross or was double crossed by a foreign power that Teller was working for, either ways Teller gets killed and the plutonium core is in the hands of an unknown and unnamed foreign power.
Hoover does not report this to President Dewey, the Attorney General of the United States and most certainly not the head of the OSS, Allen Dulles.
Hoover has either destroyed the file, has hidden the file and it has not been found yet, or he gave the file to Schultz.
Part 70, Chapter 1019
Chapter One Thousand Nineteen
4th July 1953
Washington D.C.
For Harry Truman it was question which had been more of a bear to deal with the phone call he had just finished or the report on his desk. The phone call had been with Martha Taft who Truman had called after learning that Robert Taft was in the hospital with terminal cancer. After the election campaign of a year earlier when he and Lyndon Johnson had not pulled any punches it had seemed like the right thing to do. Still, though.
The other thing was the written report that had been compiled by the FBI and CIA from domestic and largely British sources. While no one doubted for a second that British had their own agenda here, the documents that the British had stolen lined up with events within the United States. Most alarming was the Teller incident. Edward Teller, a disgraced nuclear researcher had been planning on blowing up Washington D.C. with an atomic bomb. Then he had turned up dead. The FBI had learned the exact details of what had happened to Teller only a year earlier when a criminal for hire and pimp named Malcolm Little had told them the story of having witnessed the murder in an effort to avoid a lengthy prison sentence. According to Little, a Mexican Cowboy named Marty had shot Teller, then this German Agent who was in charge named John had made a phone call and this woman had shown up a day later who had been an expert on whatever it was that they had found in that warehouse.
Today, armed with the information that the British had about that operation they had learned that the Mexican had been Agent Stockente and the woman had been called Zaunkönig. According to the British information Zaunkönig had been smuggled into the country specifically to deal with the package, which the FBI told Truman was the plutonium core that Teller had stolen from the then mothballed Hanford nuclear research facility. After a bit of effort Little had identified Zaunkönig as none other than Nessa von Schmidt-Faust, Nobel Laureate and the mother of the German atomic bomb. John, who wasn’t mentioned in the British report at all was Johann Schultz, it didn’t surprise Truman in the least that he was there. That skunk was always at the picnic. The Mexican cowboy remained unidentified.
The Justice Department briefly considered action against the two identified in the investigation, but Truman had nixed it. Nessa von Schmidt had clearly been dragooned into it by her Government and it would cause a major diplomatic headache. Not only was she one of top Physicists in the world but Truman had seen her photograph in Life magazine not two days earlier with her husband and two small children. Schultz was a waste of time, Truman had met that thickheaded oaf who lived down to every stereotype of the Hun from the First World War.
More worrisome was this Chess Master, the CIA and OSS before it had been after him for years. Supposedly he had been inside the United States in the 30s and 40s subverting it from the inside and the British report just proved that he wasn’t above taking a hands-on approach to his work. Always there but invisible. Director Ness at the FBI had said that he thought that it was Schultz, which was absurd… Or was it. The skunk that was always at the picnic.
“That son of a bitch” Truman muttered, picking up the phone he placed a call to Attorney General of the United States.
Neraida-Kozani, Greece
This whole trip had been exactly what Nancy had needed. Every afternoon when she called Ernst Pries and let him know what was going on he joked about how being paid to go on vacation was such a hardship for her, today was no different. The truth was that Nancy was on the phone with VW in Wolfsburg and other suppliers throughout Germany for most of day getting parts for the dozens of cars being used in the production. Coordinating of the repair teams was something that was supposed to be someone else’s problem, but Nancy had found that she needed to be on top of it. Sure, she did spend the evenings at the beach with the rest of the cast, but Nancy would hardly call this a vacation. Not at the rate that things were breaking. That afternoon they had been shooting on a bridge that ran across the lake here and one of the cars had gotten scraped when the stunt driver had messed up. The mechanics had pulled the panels off the sides and were replacing them when Nancy had last checked on them. After running out of Paint, it was going to have to be imported from the supplier in Bad Tölz. They had said that they would have it here by tomorrow, but Nancy wasn’t optimistic. Fortunately, they had more than one car in that color.
“Just remember that anyone in this office would trade places with you in a heartbeat” Preis said.
Nancy tried not to roll her eyes in response to that even though Preis obviously wouldn't see.
“Funny how many of them wanted to come after they saw the first promotional photos” Nancy replied.
“There’s a whole lot of stags in this office” Preis said.
Left unsaid was that if one of them had come along they likely wouldn’t have had the access that Nancy did.
“Fair enough” Nancy said, “Has today’s order been shipped?”
“Yes” Preis replied, “I just hope that you are at least having some fun because it would be a shame if a trip like that was wasted.”
“I’m doing my best” Nancy said.
Nancy looked up and saw Nicol poking her head into the trailer that Nancy used as an office waiting for her to finish the call. The plan was that they were going for a swim and having a cookout on the lakeshore tonight. Because it was the 4th of July they were going to shoot off fireworks and throw a party, all for Nancy who was the only American involved with the production. Any excuse for a party.
4th July 1953
Washington D.C.
For Harry Truman it was question which had been more of a bear to deal with the phone call he had just finished or the report on his desk. The phone call had been with Martha Taft who Truman had called after learning that Robert Taft was in the hospital with terminal cancer. After the election campaign of a year earlier when he and Lyndon Johnson had not pulled any punches it had seemed like the right thing to do. Still, though.
The other thing was the written report that had been compiled by the FBI and CIA from domestic and largely British sources. While no one doubted for a second that British had their own agenda here, the documents that the British had stolen lined up with events within the United States. Most alarming was the Teller incident. Edward Teller, a disgraced nuclear researcher had been planning on blowing up Washington D.C. with an atomic bomb. Then he had turned up dead. The FBI had learned the exact details of what had happened to Teller only a year earlier when a criminal for hire and pimp named Malcolm Little had told them the story of having witnessed the murder in an effort to avoid a lengthy prison sentence. According to Little, a Mexican Cowboy named Marty had shot Teller, then this German Agent who was in charge named John had made a phone call and this woman had shown up a day later who had been an expert on whatever it was that they had found in that warehouse.
Today, armed with the information that the British had about that operation they had learned that the Mexican had been Agent Stockente and the woman had been called Zaunkönig. According to the British information Zaunkönig had been smuggled into the country specifically to deal with the package, which the FBI told Truman was the plutonium core that Teller had stolen from the then mothballed Hanford nuclear research facility. After a bit of effort Little had identified Zaunkönig as none other than Nessa von Schmidt-Faust, Nobel Laureate and the mother of the German atomic bomb. John, who wasn’t mentioned in the British report at all was Johann Schultz, it didn’t surprise Truman in the least that he was there. That skunk was always at the picnic. The Mexican cowboy remained unidentified.
The Justice Department briefly considered action against the two identified in the investigation, but Truman had nixed it. Nessa von Schmidt had clearly been dragooned into it by her Government and it would cause a major diplomatic headache. Not only was she one of top Physicists in the world but Truman had seen her photograph in Life magazine not two days earlier with her husband and two small children. Schultz was a waste of time, Truman had met that thickheaded oaf who lived down to every stereotype of the Hun from the First World War.
More worrisome was this Chess Master, the CIA and OSS before it had been after him for years. Supposedly he had been inside the United States in the 30s and 40s subverting it from the inside and the British report just proved that he wasn’t above taking a hands-on approach to his work. Always there but invisible. Director Ness at the FBI had said that he thought that it was Schultz, which was absurd… Or was it. The skunk that was always at the picnic.
“That son of a bitch” Truman muttered, picking up the phone he placed a call to Attorney General of the United States.
Neraida-Kozani, Greece
This whole trip had been exactly what Nancy had needed. Every afternoon when she called Ernst Pries and let him know what was going on he joked about how being paid to go on vacation was such a hardship for her, today was no different. The truth was that Nancy was on the phone with VW in Wolfsburg and other suppliers throughout Germany for most of day getting parts for the dozens of cars being used in the production. Coordinating of the repair teams was something that was supposed to be someone else’s problem, but Nancy had found that she needed to be on top of it. Sure, she did spend the evenings at the beach with the rest of the cast, but Nancy would hardly call this a vacation. Not at the rate that things were breaking. That afternoon they had been shooting on a bridge that ran across the lake here and one of the cars had gotten scraped when the stunt driver had messed up. The mechanics had pulled the panels off the sides and were replacing them when Nancy had last checked on them. After running out of Paint, it was going to have to be imported from the supplier in Bad Tölz. They had said that they would have it here by tomorrow, but Nancy wasn’t optimistic. Fortunately, they had more than one car in that color.
“Just remember that anyone in this office would trade places with you in a heartbeat” Preis said.
Nancy tried not to roll her eyes in response to that even though Preis obviously wouldn't see.
“Funny how many of them wanted to come after they saw the first promotional photos” Nancy replied.
“There’s a whole lot of stags in this office” Preis said.
Left unsaid was that if one of them had come along they likely wouldn’t have had the access that Nancy did.
“Fair enough” Nancy said, “Has today’s order been shipped?”
“Yes” Preis replied, “I just hope that you are at least having some fun because it would be a shame if a trip like that was wasted.”
“I’m doing my best” Nancy said.
Nancy looked up and saw Nicol poking her head into the trailer that Nancy used as an office waiting for her to finish the call. The plan was that they were going for a swim and having a cookout on the lakeshore tonight. Because it was the 4th of July they were going to shoot off fireworks and throw a party, all for Nancy who was the only American involved with the production. Any excuse for a party.
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If the Americans wanted to, they could burn Schultz in a heartbeat. Declaring him PNG would bite a little, if the British did likewise, it wouldn't bite too much more. Any company in America he is, or was, involved with will be under very close scrutiny, and it may be that his ties with J Edna come into the open too.
There's nothing the Americans can do publicly against him, simply because if the full scope of the German penetration comes out it could cause a full on cold war as opposed to the quiet one on the go at the moment. Although Schultz would be a folk hero of epic proportions in Germany if the Americans do go public - the Luftwaffe NCO that humbled a great nation?
Ha! Can you imagine the TV Series that would come out? Oh dear Gods!
It will be interesting to see how TTL's American government deal with this.
There's nothing the Americans can do publicly against him, simply because if the full scope of the German penetration comes out it could cause a full on cold war as opposed to the quiet one on the go at the moment. Although Schultz would be a folk hero of epic proportions in Germany if the Americans do go public - the Luftwaffe NCO that humbled a great nation?
Ha! Can you imagine the TV Series that would come out? Oh dear Gods!
It will be interesting to see how TTL's American government deal with this.
Johann Schultz
Yes he's really dead
(crudely marked underneath)
Not any more or Are you sure?
perhaps with a big of disturbed grass
Yeah. I can imagine that the General Attorney would ironically advice to simply try to check out the movements of Schultz in the past in the US, but otherwise to do nothing.
Because to admit that the "Musclehead" in the German Embassy basically made appear the ENTIRE intelligence and security apparatus of the United States for close to 20 years like a pair of drooling idiots it would be a MASSIVE blow to the international reputation of the US... For not talk of that to other nations it would show that infiltrate the American Society and Government wouldn't be as hard as it was thought, and from thinking to doing it there is a short step.....
Because to admit that the "Musclehead" in the German Embassy basically made appear the ENTIRE intelligence and security apparatus of the United States for close to 20 years like a pair of drooling idiots it would be a MASSIVE blow to the international reputation of the US... For not talk of that to other nations it would show that infiltrate the American Society and Government wouldn't be as hard as it was thought, and from thinking to doing it there is a short step.....
It isn't actually a crime to prevent a mad scientist from blowing up Washington D.C. last I heard. It's even hard to argue that it is an unfriendly act. Yes he had his own agenda but actually he did the US a massive favour and probably saved either Truman or Johnston's life.
Of course, in sabotaging Manhattan, he also CAUSED the mess in the first place...especially since he had Teller disgraced to the point where he went mad scientist "Fools! They laughed at me!". Not that anyone could reasonably make that connection ITTL.
J Edgar Hoover was unavailable for comment.
It's the British coup of the century, to say the least.
But out of interest, how deep is the British penetration, that they can make heads or tails out of a magnetic tape in one month and even analyse it?
And a question, regardless of story, how dificult is it to recover useble information from an magentic tape with unknown properties?
But out of interest, how deep is the British penetration, that they can make heads or tails out of a magnetic tape in one month and even analyse it?
And a question, regardless of story, how dificult is it to recover useble information from an magentic tape with unknown properties?