It certainly illustrates why the French were so quick, when they got rid of theirs, to try to make sure they STAYED gone, with modern efficiency. No messy headsman's ax.
Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread II
- Thread starter Peabody-Martini
- Start date
Part 105, Chapter 1705
Chapter One Thousand Seven Hundred Five
3rd January 1966
Near Jassel, Poland
Having put the snowplow blade on the Hanomag tractor, Olli was clearing the road that led to the highway that led into Jassel. His neighbors waved as he passed, and he could see that their farm was an unbroken snowfield. When he came back this way he would ask if they needed the driveway cleared between the road and their house. Olli was perfectly happy to do it and he knew that having the goodwill of his neighbors would be something that would always pay off down the line.
Things might have been quiet this time of the year out on the farms in the countryside, but Olli was discovering that things were taking a worrisome turn in the cities as the war of words between the Galician Region and Warsaw had erupted into open violence on several occasions. When the Emperor had given his Christmas address it had not been comforting this year. Olli simply knew too much about what was going on behind the scenes and most troubling of all was that Olli’s old friend, Erwin Bachmann, had taken something that Olli had said to him to whole heart. That a movement needed to come from the ground up with a broad base of support.
A few days before Christmas Bachmann had personally thanked Olli for giving him that advice even though he had not been prepared to hear it at the time. Not only was that dangerous because it seemed like Warsaw had people everywhere these days, but Olli suspected that it was probably something that Bachmann only paid lip service to. The former Generallieutenant did best when he had someone from the outside paying the bills, and inevitably that someone had an agenda that extended far beyond Poland. Olli had heard that it was Slovakian interests who were backing Bachmann this time. If they were, it was for the most cynical of reasons. A plebiscite in the Galician region to separate from Poland and forming a State within the German Empire would establish the precedent for the Slovakians to have a plebiscite of their own, to leave the Empire entirely.
What Bachmann did not seem to understand was that he was roiling up a situation in Southern Poland that would bring the military straight to their door if things got much worse. It simply didn’t matter if it were the respective Polish or German Armies, either of those would bring ruin upon the people of this region and further inflame an already bad situation.
Washington D.C.
The new year was already off to a rocky start. It was an election year and William Stoughton; the Speaker of the House of Representatives was preparing to make himself a real thorn in Nelson Rockefeller’s side. It wasn’t personal with Speaker Stoughton, it was business. An everyone knew that when Big Bill came to your door demanding a pound of flesh, he a knife and a scale with him. It was up to you what got paid, because he didn’t give a shit where it came from so long as he got his cut. And if you lacked the wherewithal to make the cut yourself, he would cheerfully make it for you.
It was with that in mind that Nelson had the Speaker briefed about his latest phone conversation with Kaiser Louis Ferdinand. There was no percentage in it for Stoughton. There was little that he could take back to his Congressional District in Massachusetts. Though Nelson might have though that being able to tell his constituents that they were a bit less likely to be incinerated might be a good thing. Still, because Stoughton was third in line for the Presidency, he needed to be briefed on Foreign Policy. Nelson observed with a bit of delight because he could tell that the Speaker was bored to tears.
It did not help that the Kaiser wasn’t an overly exciting man. He wasn’t a loose cannon like his grandfather or a womanizer like his father. He had talked about Classical Music and the Arts with Nelson when they had met over the summer. It was easy to forget that he was the largely ceremonial leader of an Empire that had an antagonistic relationship with the United States since the Des Moines incident decades earlier. When Nelson had talked to the Kaiser a couple hours before, Louis Ferdinand had said that antagonism was a luxury that they could no longer afford.
Then the subject changed to the actions of Louis’ oldest daughter. While Louis Ferdinand had been meeting with Nelson in Potsdam, the Princess Royal had been entertaining executives from mostly American and Japanese corporations. Letting them stay in a real castle and enjoy the rustic charms of Southern Germany at their leisure. It was done to persuade them to locate facilities in the Principality that Kristina was the ruler of. Speaker Stoughton laughed at that.
“Just what is so funny” Nelson asked.
“Because that girl would get herself thrown in prison doing that in this country” Stoughton replied, “The advantage of being a Princess in a country that still has Kings, Dukes, High Muck-a-Mucks, or whatever. Who arrests the Princess for violating the Hatch Act?”
“I don’t think that the Germans have High Muck-a-Muck as a title” Nelson said, “And I don’t know if conflict of interest laws apply in a case like that, even in this country.”
“If one of your girls was doing something like that, you had better believe that I would be making hay over it” Stoughton said.
3rd January 1966
Near Jassel, Poland
Having put the snowplow blade on the Hanomag tractor, Olli was clearing the road that led to the highway that led into Jassel. His neighbors waved as he passed, and he could see that their farm was an unbroken snowfield. When he came back this way he would ask if they needed the driveway cleared between the road and their house. Olli was perfectly happy to do it and he knew that having the goodwill of his neighbors would be something that would always pay off down the line.
Things might have been quiet this time of the year out on the farms in the countryside, but Olli was discovering that things were taking a worrisome turn in the cities as the war of words between the Galician Region and Warsaw had erupted into open violence on several occasions. When the Emperor had given his Christmas address it had not been comforting this year. Olli simply knew too much about what was going on behind the scenes and most troubling of all was that Olli’s old friend, Erwin Bachmann, had taken something that Olli had said to him to whole heart. That a movement needed to come from the ground up with a broad base of support.
A few days before Christmas Bachmann had personally thanked Olli for giving him that advice even though he had not been prepared to hear it at the time. Not only was that dangerous because it seemed like Warsaw had people everywhere these days, but Olli suspected that it was probably something that Bachmann only paid lip service to. The former Generallieutenant did best when he had someone from the outside paying the bills, and inevitably that someone had an agenda that extended far beyond Poland. Olli had heard that it was Slovakian interests who were backing Bachmann this time. If they were, it was for the most cynical of reasons. A plebiscite in the Galician region to separate from Poland and forming a State within the German Empire would establish the precedent for the Slovakians to have a plebiscite of their own, to leave the Empire entirely.
What Bachmann did not seem to understand was that he was roiling up a situation in Southern Poland that would bring the military straight to their door if things got much worse. It simply didn’t matter if it were the respective Polish or German Armies, either of those would bring ruin upon the people of this region and further inflame an already bad situation.
Washington D.C.
The new year was already off to a rocky start. It was an election year and William Stoughton; the Speaker of the House of Representatives was preparing to make himself a real thorn in Nelson Rockefeller’s side. It wasn’t personal with Speaker Stoughton, it was business. An everyone knew that when Big Bill came to your door demanding a pound of flesh, he a knife and a scale with him. It was up to you what got paid, because he didn’t give a shit where it came from so long as he got his cut. And if you lacked the wherewithal to make the cut yourself, he would cheerfully make it for you.
It was with that in mind that Nelson had the Speaker briefed about his latest phone conversation with Kaiser Louis Ferdinand. There was no percentage in it for Stoughton. There was little that he could take back to his Congressional District in Massachusetts. Though Nelson might have though that being able to tell his constituents that they were a bit less likely to be incinerated might be a good thing. Still, because Stoughton was third in line for the Presidency, he needed to be briefed on Foreign Policy. Nelson observed with a bit of delight because he could tell that the Speaker was bored to tears.
It did not help that the Kaiser wasn’t an overly exciting man. He wasn’t a loose cannon like his grandfather or a womanizer like his father. He had talked about Classical Music and the Arts with Nelson when they had met over the summer. It was easy to forget that he was the largely ceremonial leader of an Empire that had an antagonistic relationship with the United States since the Des Moines incident decades earlier. When Nelson had talked to the Kaiser a couple hours before, Louis Ferdinand had said that antagonism was a luxury that they could no longer afford.
Then the subject changed to the actions of Louis’ oldest daughter. While Louis Ferdinand had been meeting with Nelson in Potsdam, the Princess Royal had been entertaining executives from mostly American and Japanese corporations. Letting them stay in a real castle and enjoy the rustic charms of Southern Germany at their leisure. It was done to persuade them to locate facilities in the Principality that Kristina was the ruler of. Speaker Stoughton laughed at that.
“Just what is so funny” Nelson asked.
“Because that girl would get herself thrown in prison doing that in this country” Stoughton replied, “The advantage of being a Princess in a country that still has Kings, Dukes, High Muck-a-Mucks, or whatever. Who arrests the Princess for violating the Hatch Act?”
“I don’t think that the Germans have High Muck-a-Muck as a title” Nelson said, “And I don’t know if conflict of interest laws apply in a case like that, even in this country.”
“If one of your girls was doing something like that, you had better believe that I would be making hay over it” Stoughton said.
"Big" Bill Stoughton needs to look beyond Boston Harbor if he really wants help his constituents and he should get his own foreign policy team and from what I understand that there is some good schools in the Boston area including a couple in his own district that he can drawn on.
As Speaker of the House he probably has Presidential ambitions of his own and as we saw with ITTL John Nance Garner having a President who can not see past his own Congressional district is not a good thing.
Slovakia is playing a game that they are ill prepared for.
As Speaker of the House he probably has Presidential ambitions of his own and as we saw with ITTL John Nance Garner having a President who can not see past his own Congressional district is not a good thing.
Slovakia is playing a game that they are ill prepared for.
Stoughton sounds like the sort of power-hungry idiot that will get elected, and set American foreign relations back a hundred years or more. Perhaps the USA will get lucky and Stupid Luck and Happenstance will see him run over by a train.
It sounds like he comes to your door demanding something he may have no claim to, and you better give it to him or else. The technical term for that is "extortion."
For business propositions on her own land, does she even need to worry about that--she can chose which companies she feels comfortable with, for whatever reason. If she's playing games on land that's not HERS, then yes. Stoughton has no clue about anything beyond how the USA does things.
I don't know if it was your intention, but in this one post, you made me want to see him get it good.
I have a suspicion that Manfred the Younger just might find himself & the newly formed Special Reconnaissance Regiment being deployed to Galicia in the not-to-distant future to support Federal Police & BII surveillance teams.
To be fair to Stoughton, very few politicians anywhere, let alone their constituents, have the faintest idea of how other countries work. This is why the world's various foreign ministries & state departments spend so much time on 'clarifying' statements and/or repairing the damage caused by their political masters who act almost entirely on a domestic basis.
To be fair to Stoughton, very few politicians anywhere, let alone their constituents, have the faintest idea of how other countries work. This is why the world's various foreign ministries & state departments spend so much time on 'clarifying' statements and/or repairing the damage caused by their political masters who act almost entirely on a domestic basis.
ferdi254
Banned
That gets a bit bigger in the USA where until today 90% of the population do not have a passport. And tests of geographical knowledge come up with... let me say less than ideal results.
Met a guy (teacher) in New Orleans in 2004 who asked me if Germany still was divided.
No I am not kidding.
met two police officers same place same time who were totally aghast that in all countries in the EU drinking alcohol in public was not illegal. They had no idea that the USA was the exception here.
No I am not kidding.
Could write two dozen more examples like this and I am not kidding.
I forgot who coined the phrase but „ Wars are god‘s way to teach the Americans geography“ in my not so humble opinion nailed it.
Met a guy (teacher) in New Orleans in 2004 who asked me if Germany still was divided.
No I am not kidding.
met two police officers same place same time who were totally aghast that in all countries in the EU drinking alcohol in public was not illegal. They had no idea that the USA was the exception here.
No I am not kidding.
Could write two dozen more examples like this and I am not kidding.
I forgot who coined the phrase but „ Wars are god‘s way to teach the Americans geography“ in my not so humble opinion nailed it.
Even aside from the ignorance of other nations, the way he was introduced makes me want to see him meet a horrible end.
Part 105, Chapter 1706
Chapter One Thousand Seven Hundred Six
6th January 1966
Mitte, Berlin
“I am sorry to tell you that there will be no documentary about your boat” Zella said when she got Louis Junior on the phone, “For the time being anyway, my employers will not approve the funding.”
It was strange, Zella didn’t work for the BT with Bart as her supervisor anymore, but she still found herself having to leap the same sorts of hurdles. She was finding that still paying dues was taxing her patience like nothing else.
“You are not missing much” Louis said, “With the harbor iced up this winter we had to take the Windhund out of the water and put her in storage. I’m staying in the Bachelor Officer’s Quarters in Kiel while the crew is aboard the St. Louis.”
“St. Louis?” Zella asked.
“She is an old Ocean Liner that is now an accommodation ship in the harbor that serves as Winter Quarters for the enlisted men” Louis replied, “She smells so badly of dirty laundry and unwashed bodies during the winter that it is said that even the pigs they keep on the deck complain.”
“I see” Zella said, “And what’s this about the Windhund being out of the water? She is what, thirty or forty meters long?”
“Thirty-six meters” Louis replied, “And that is rather small, which is why she is a boat rather than a ship.”
“As unpleasant as you make that sound, it is still better than where ARD wants me to go next” Zella said, “They want me to make a documentary about dairy farming in Silesia and Poland over the next few months, blessed are cheesemakers and all that bullshit.”
“After a few months filming that, you will be an expert on bullshit” Louis replied, “Won’t you?”
“That’s really funny” Zella replied, “I didn’t have to call to tell you what was going on.”
“Perhaps” Louis said, “But that wasn’t why you called.”
Zella waited for Louis to tell her what he was getting at.
“Kiki and Rauchbier” Louis said, “How that went.”
“Kiki told me that it went well” Zella replied, “That your crew loved Rauchbier.”
“She would say that” Louis said, “But that is hardly a complete version of what happened. What she probably left out is that Rauchbier kept going after rats on the pier and every time he caught one, the crew cheered him on while Kiki just looked embarrassed as she had to deal with another dead rat. I told her to kick them off the pier, there is always something around looking for an easy snack.”
“You know how she is though” Zella said, “Kiki wants everything to be perfect in a world that is far from that.”
“Perhaps if she spoke up when she was uncomfortable then it would be easier for her” Louis said.
“That will never happen” Zella replied, “I know that she analyzes everything to death and her internal dialog is always going a thousand kilometers a second, she doesn’t just let anyone in. Not easily anyway.”
“She is one of the most guarded people I know” Louis said, “That cannot be healthy.”
“What she is doing is working for her” Zella said, hoping that what she had just said was true.
Tempelhof, Berlin
The letter from Manfred did arrive. Unfortunately, Kat got to it first and while she didn’t open it, she did keep it from Suse until after they had a conversation. The sort of conversation that Suse would rather face a public flogging than have.
“Sooner or later he is going to come visit you here Suse” Kat said, “And there are a few things you need to understand before that happens.”
“You don’t need to have that sort of talk with me” Suse replied, “I know the rules of this house, no boys above the parlor floor and hands will remain in plain sight at all times.”
“What about when you are not here?” Kat asked mildly, “Have you given any thought to that?”
Suse gave Kat a blank stare. The truth was that she had not considered that.
“I know that you try to be sensible” Kat said, “However, you can be just as impulsive as your mother at times.”
“Meaning what?” Suse asked angrily.
Comparisons to her mother grated on her like few other things.
“It means that you are very likely to give a boyfriend a goodnight kiss and by the time you start thinking clearly again, you will be crawling out of his bed and trying to figure out what happened to your clothes” Kat said, not reacting to Suse’s anger.
“I would never…” Suse started to say as she felt her cheeks start to flush.
“You don’t think that you would” Kat said, “The problem is that I am concerned that your brain might switch off and no thought would be involved.”
“Not when it comes to something as serious as… that” Suse said awkwardly.
“When it comes to fucking you are just another hormonal teenager” Kat said, “And the influence of your mother on top of it. You can see why I am concerned.”
Suse knew that her face must be turning a shade of crimson. She recalled that when she had been twelve, she had heard a classmate describe sex as sticking your finger up someone else’s nose and it wasn’t snot that dripped out afterwards. She had stupidly repeated that joke to her mother and had gotten a vivid lecture about all the ways that was correct and incorrect. It was completely mortifying when Suse had realized that it was her nose in question. That had put her off for a long time.
“Can I have the letter?” Suse asked.
“Yes” Kat said handing her the letter, “But understand that I want you thinking about these things before they become an issue. You are involved with my nephew, so just think of how Helene and Gerta will react if things go wrong.”
6th January 1966
Mitte, Berlin
“I am sorry to tell you that there will be no documentary about your boat” Zella said when she got Louis Junior on the phone, “For the time being anyway, my employers will not approve the funding.”
It was strange, Zella didn’t work for the BT with Bart as her supervisor anymore, but she still found herself having to leap the same sorts of hurdles. She was finding that still paying dues was taxing her patience like nothing else.
“You are not missing much” Louis said, “With the harbor iced up this winter we had to take the Windhund out of the water and put her in storage. I’m staying in the Bachelor Officer’s Quarters in Kiel while the crew is aboard the St. Louis.”
“St. Louis?” Zella asked.
“She is an old Ocean Liner that is now an accommodation ship in the harbor that serves as Winter Quarters for the enlisted men” Louis replied, “She smells so badly of dirty laundry and unwashed bodies during the winter that it is said that even the pigs they keep on the deck complain.”
“I see” Zella said, “And what’s this about the Windhund being out of the water? She is what, thirty or forty meters long?”
“Thirty-six meters” Louis replied, “And that is rather small, which is why she is a boat rather than a ship.”
“As unpleasant as you make that sound, it is still better than where ARD wants me to go next” Zella said, “They want me to make a documentary about dairy farming in Silesia and Poland over the next few months, blessed are cheesemakers and all that bullshit.”
“After a few months filming that, you will be an expert on bullshit” Louis replied, “Won’t you?”
“That’s really funny” Zella replied, “I didn’t have to call to tell you what was going on.”
“Perhaps” Louis said, “But that wasn’t why you called.”
Zella waited for Louis to tell her what he was getting at.
“Kiki and Rauchbier” Louis said, “How that went.”
“Kiki told me that it went well” Zella replied, “That your crew loved Rauchbier.”
“She would say that” Louis said, “But that is hardly a complete version of what happened. What she probably left out is that Rauchbier kept going after rats on the pier and every time he caught one, the crew cheered him on while Kiki just looked embarrassed as she had to deal with another dead rat. I told her to kick them off the pier, there is always something around looking for an easy snack.”
“You know how she is though” Zella said, “Kiki wants everything to be perfect in a world that is far from that.”
“Perhaps if she spoke up when she was uncomfortable then it would be easier for her” Louis said.
“That will never happen” Zella replied, “I know that she analyzes everything to death and her internal dialog is always going a thousand kilometers a second, she doesn’t just let anyone in. Not easily anyway.”
“She is one of the most guarded people I know” Louis said, “That cannot be healthy.”
“What she is doing is working for her” Zella said, hoping that what she had just said was true.
Tempelhof, Berlin
The letter from Manfred did arrive. Unfortunately, Kat got to it first and while she didn’t open it, she did keep it from Suse until after they had a conversation. The sort of conversation that Suse would rather face a public flogging than have.
“Sooner or later he is going to come visit you here Suse” Kat said, “And there are a few things you need to understand before that happens.”
“You don’t need to have that sort of talk with me” Suse replied, “I know the rules of this house, no boys above the parlor floor and hands will remain in plain sight at all times.”
“What about when you are not here?” Kat asked mildly, “Have you given any thought to that?”
Suse gave Kat a blank stare. The truth was that she had not considered that.
“I know that you try to be sensible” Kat said, “However, you can be just as impulsive as your mother at times.”
“Meaning what?” Suse asked angrily.
Comparisons to her mother grated on her like few other things.
“It means that you are very likely to give a boyfriend a goodnight kiss and by the time you start thinking clearly again, you will be crawling out of his bed and trying to figure out what happened to your clothes” Kat said, not reacting to Suse’s anger.
“I would never…” Suse started to say as she felt her cheeks start to flush.
“You don’t think that you would” Kat said, “The problem is that I am concerned that your brain might switch off and no thought would be involved.”
“Not when it comes to something as serious as… that” Suse said awkwardly.
“When it comes to fucking you are just another hormonal teenager” Kat said, “And the influence of your mother on top of it. You can see why I am concerned.”
Suse knew that her face must be turning a shade of crimson. She recalled that when she had been twelve, she had heard a classmate describe sex as sticking your finger up someone else’s nose and it wasn’t snot that dripped out afterwards. She had stupidly repeated that joke to her mother and had gotten a vivid lecture about all the ways that was correct and incorrect. It was completely mortifying when Suse had realized that it was her nose in question. That had put her off for a long time.
“Can I have the letter?” Suse asked.
“Yes” Kat said handing her the letter, “But understand that I want you thinking about these things before they become an issue. You are involved with my nephew, so just think of how Helene and Gerta will react if things go wrong.”
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Have you been watching those dog + mink ratting team videos? Rauchbier needs to make friends with some minks.
At a guess, one of the sailors with artistic flair will either: a) paint on the side of the boat a stylised whippet with a dead rat between its teeth, or
b) draw the design out for a flag to be made
for a ship the crew will dub ”the Rat-Catcher”.
Also, Zella looks like following in her Mum’s footsteps heading into a combat zone. Wonder if Zella will meet a dashing officer who first grates on her, then what...?
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Somehow when Kat was explaining "The Facts of Life according to Kat" to Suse Rosa I think that there was a certain gleam in her eyes as she was putting the fear of God and more importantly making Suse Rosa extremely embarrassed.
Sailors being sailors most likely were making bets on how many rats Rauchbier was able to catch and kill.
Sailors being sailors most likely were making bets on how many rats Rauchbier was able to catch and kill.
I'd say Zella is about to film one hell of an expose of the political situations in Silesia and Poland; just in time to be caught up in the start of, to borrow a phrase from the Irish, The Troubles. Hell, the mere act of filming her documentary could:
A) finally get through to the Powers-That-Be, especially in Warsaw, that they are seriously close to a FUBAR in Galicia & Ruthenia;
B) actually kick off the actual shit show; or
C) somehow get the local Poles, Germans, Galicians, Ruthenians, etc to realise that they have the same aims & desires and that they are all being played by power hungry arse-holes.
Aunt Kat letting the claws show ever so slightly in an attempt to get one of her charges to at least think about birth control before the hormones push the override button.
A) finally get through to the Powers-That-Be, especially in Warsaw, that they are seriously close to a FUBAR in Galicia & Ruthenia;
B) actually kick off the actual shit show; or
C) somehow get the local Poles, Germans, Galicians, Ruthenians, etc to realise that they have the same aims & desires and that they are all being played by power hungry arse-holes.
Aunt Kat letting the claws show ever so slightly in an attempt to get one of her charges to at least think about birth control before the hormones push the override button.
Zella the war correspondent.
Actually, this could be similar to how Kate Adie got her break in 1981 OTL. Just being in the right/wrong* place at the right/wrong* time.
Given Zella's nose for a story, I bet you a mark to a pfennig, she picks up on the political trouble making and is able to link the German ring leader from Franz, (formerly Von), Papen, to this trouble and back to the Czech ringleader.
*Delete as applicable.
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Part 105, Chapter 1707
Chapter One Thousand Seven Hundred Seven
14th January 1966
Mitte, Berlin
It was Friday night and Zella was at home, sitting on the couch and watching a television show that was making her wonder if this was what rock bottom looked like. She might have checked the listings in one of the newspapers to see if any of the bands she knew were playing. That would require getting up from the couch after an exhausting and frustrating week. She knew that she should probably get up and change the channel or turn it off considering how what she had been watching had ended and something strange had come on, but she was reluctant to get off the couch. Perhaps Kiki was on to something in that she refused to have a television at her place in Jena.
The American superhero series Batman was being rebroadcast in Berlin a few days after it had aired across the Atlantic. It was both silly and surreal, a lot like if cotton candy were made into a television show. Did people in the United States find this funny or something?
ARD still had her editing video and she dreaded the thought of editing anything like what she was currently watching. She had meant what she had said to Louis Junior about dairy farms in the east being bullshit. Her employers were enthusiastic about the project though and they wanted her out in the field to make it happen. That probably had something to do with the dairy cooperative that was funding the documentary. It was in keeping with what Zella had learned involving the economics of Public Broadcasters, they preferred it if documentaries came with self-funding mechanisms. That was why they were not interested in most of Zella’s ideas, her name alone or even that of most of the people she knew were not enough to justify the cost of production.
That was also why she feared that she would find herself editing a German version of Batman. That was when the fight scene started, and the music started…
“What are you watching?” Zella heard her father ask as the word “POW!” appeared in animated letters across the screen as the Batman punched one of the Joker’s henchmen.
“A program that makes me wonder if something weird is in California’s water” Zella replied.
“Is that what this is supposed to be?” Emil asked absently as he left the room just as Bert Ward as the Robin did a cartoonish looking kick aimed at Cesar Romero’s Joker. The word “OOF!” appeared on the screen.
Albstadt, Württemberg
After weeks of training, Manfred learned that he was in the 4th Division’s 7th Reconnaissance Battalion and that detachments from it would work in concert with the other units within the Division. That included his father’s old unit and that meant that Manfred was close to getting where he had wanted to go in the first place. The issue was that the specialized training they were receiving was growing more difficult. The 7th Recon was being held to the standards of the KSK. Manfred had heard that the KSK was like their SKA predecessors in that they were said to believe that training should be harder than combat and that was becoming easy to believe. Sweat now, saves blood tomorrow taken to its fullest extreme. Added to that was the mission of the 7th Recon. They were to act as the eyes of the Division, avoiding direct engagement with the enemy and providing actionable intelligence. To that end every single man in the Battalion had been trained to be on the radio with Divisional Headquarters and to be able to call in air and artillery assets as well.
That was why it came as a bit of a surprise when training ended abruptly on Friday afternoon and Jost ordered Manfred’s Platoon onto lorries so that they could go into Albstadt. He said that because of all their hard work lately, they deserved a reward. Naturally, everyone suspected that Jost was putting one over on them right up until the lorries pulled into the carpark in Albstadt. It was then that they all learned that they were going to the double feature that was playing at the local cinema. The first film was a screwball comedy staring Dean Martin, Jack Lemmon, and Jerry Lewis about a weekend in Atlantic City that goes horribly wrong. The second was the theatrical rerelease of Ingmar Burgmann’s The Seventh Seal.
Afterwards they went to the local eatery/tavern where they were told that they could have one entrée and a glass of beer. It seemed that the Platoon had money set aside for entertainment, because they were nearing the end of specialty training, they needed to use some of it or forfeit it all. The sour note was that Manfred had ended up seated at the same table as Jost. Christian being loyal to a fault had joined them.
As they waited for their food, Manfred was reading the latest letter from Suse Rosa. It seemed that Fürstin Katherine had taken her to task about the possibility that when Manfred came back to Berlin something might happen between them and they needed to head off the consequences. It was a radical notion. Not because of the possibility of the action in question but because Manfred wasn’t sure who scared him more, his Aunt Katherine or Suse’s father. He was hardly paying attention to the conversations at the other tables when he heard Jost mutter something.
“Excuse me, Oberstaber?” Manfred asked.
“They all preferred that first film” Jost said with a slight grin, “It wasn’t the one I wanted them to see.”
Manfred realized, not for the first time, that Jost was an extremely odd man.
14th January 1966
Mitte, Berlin
It was Friday night and Zella was at home, sitting on the couch and watching a television show that was making her wonder if this was what rock bottom looked like. She might have checked the listings in one of the newspapers to see if any of the bands she knew were playing. That would require getting up from the couch after an exhausting and frustrating week. She knew that she should probably get up and change the channel or turn it off considering how what she had been watching had ended and something strange had come on, but she was reluctant to get off the couch. Perhaps Kiki was on to something in that she refused to have a television at her place in Jena.
The American superhero series Batman was being rebroadcast in Berlin a few days after it had aired across the Atlantic. It was both silly and surreal, a lot like if cotton candy were made into a television show. Did people in the United States find this funny or something?
ARD still had her editing video and she dreaded the thought of editing anything like what she was currently watching. She had meant what she had said to Louis Junior about dairy farms in the east being bullshit. Her employers were enthusiastic about the project though and they wanted her out in the field to make it happen. That probably had something to do with the dairy cooperative that was funding the documentary. It was in keeping with what Zella had learned involving the economics of Public Broadcasters, they preferred it if documentaries came with self-funding mechanisms. That was why they were not interested in most of Zella’s ideas, her name alone or even that of most of the people she knew were not enough to justify the cost of production.
That was also why she feared that she would find herself editing a German version of Batman. That was when the fight scene started, and the music started…
“What are you watching?” Zella heard her father ask as the word “POW!” appeared in animated letters across the screen as the Batman punched one of the Joker’s henchmen.
“A program that makes me wonder if something weird is in California’s water” Zella replied.
“Is that what this is supposed to be?” Emil asked absently as he left the room just as Bert Ward as the Robin did a cartoonish looking kick aimed at Cesar Romero’s Joker. The word “OOF!” appeared on the screen.
Albstadt, Württemberg
After weeks of training, Manfred learned that he was in the 4th Division’s 7th Reconnaissance Battalion and that detachments from it would work in concert with the other units within the Division. That included his father’s old unit and that meant that Manfred was close to getting where he had wanted to go in the first place. The issue was that the specialized training they were receiving was growing more difficult. The 7th Recon was being held to the standards of the KSK. Manfred had heard that the KSK was like their SKA predecessors in that they were said to believe that training should be harder than combat and that was becoming easy to believe. Sweat now, saves blood tomorrow taken to its fullest extreme. Added to that was the mission of the 7th Recon. They were to act as the eyes of the Division, avoiding direct engagement with the enemy and providing actionable intelligence. To that end every single man in the Battalion had been trained to be on the radio with Divisional Headquarters and to be able to call in air and artillery assets as well.
That was why it came as a bit of a surprise when training ended abruptly on Friday afternoon and Jost ordered Manfred’s Platoon onto lorries so that they could go into Albstadt. He said that because of all their hard work lately, they deserved a reward. Naturally, everyone suspected that Jost was putting one over on them right up until the lorries pulled into the carpark in Albstadt. It was then that they all learned that they were going to the double feature that was playing at the local cinema. The first film was a screwball comedy staring Dean Martin, Jack Lemmon, and Jerry Lewis about a weekend in Atlantic City that goes horribly wrong. The second was the theatrical rerelease of Ingmar Burgmann’s The Seventh Seal.
Afterwards they went to the local eatery/tavern where they were told that they could have one entrée and a glass of beer. It seemed that the Platoon had money set aside for entertainment, because they were nearing the end of specialty training, they needed to use some of it or forfeit it all. The sour note was that Manfred had ended up seated at the same table as Jost. Christian being loyal to a fault had joined them.
As they waited for their food, Manfred was reading the latest letter from Suse Rosa. It seemed that Fürstin Katherine had taken her to task about the possibility that when Manfred came back to Berlin something might happen between them and they needed to head off the consequences. It was a radical notion. Not because of the possibility of the action in question but because Manfred wasn’t sure who scared him more, his Aunt Katherine or Suse’s father. He was hardly paying attention to the conversations at the other tables when he heard Jost mutter something.
“Excuse me, Oberstaber?” Manfred asked.
“They all preferred that first film” Jost said with a slight grin, “It wasn’t the one I wanted them to see.”
Manfred realized, not for the first time, that Jost was an extremely odd man.
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Clearly the world still remains the same as long as Batman exists.