Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread III

Part 124, Chapter 2096
Chapter Two Thousand Ninety-Six



11th October 1971

Mitte, Berlin

“They do realize that these movies are fiction?” Helene asked in exasperation.

“Normally you would think so, Ma’am” Her Aide replied, “But these men are not known for being the brightest sort even if they don’t have something setting them off.”

“Yes, I get that” Helene said, “These books and movies were intended as satire.”

“The Nationalists are not known for their keen sense of humor” The Aide said, “Their idea of funny is usually along the lines of fart or ethnic jokes.”

Helene could feel a stress headache coming on just listening to the latest news about a protest outside a television studio that had turned violent in Potsdam. It seemed that one of the major networks had adapted the speculative fiction books that she had read years earlier at the insistence of her friend Judita which had depicted the rise of a disturbing version of Germany that has risen after a defeat at the hands of the Triple Entente, eventually being led by a madman named Martin Seiler. What follows is grotesque kaleidoscope of human misery where every available means is used to kill those Seiler and his cadre view as of the enemy until it was being done on an industrial scale. Jews, Homosexuals, Gypsies, Freemasons, Communists, Slavs, the disabled, anyone who disagrees with Martin Seiler… The final book had featured Seiler in a bunker under the streets of Mitte as the Russians were overrunning the city deluded about the state of the war, thinking he was winning because he had been liquidating those that he considered the real enemy by the millions in the midst of a war.

Later, after Seiler blows his brains out and the victorious Allies are dividing Germany up, even as they are making moves against each other clearly setting up what will be the next war, Seiler’s henchmen start getting put on trial. They get paraded through the courtroom and laughably try to place all the blame on Martin Seiler, that they were just following orders. The Judges were not impressed by that, and the comment gets made that the need to obey orders doesn’t negate the conscience. Most of them get hung like common criminals in the end.

The trouble was that these were men, mostly members of the Royalist and Nationalist Parties but several Industrialists and Military Officers as well, who had names and families who took exception to how they were being depicted. After they had exhausted legal avenues and had been unable to stop production they had resorted to protests outside the studio where production had taken place and those had turned violent. As the Minister of the Interior, Helene found herself having to contend the aftermath and was very much aware that most of the groups in question really didn’t like her. As a woman with a career and the leader of political Party that they felt was repackaged Communism, she was basically everything they hated in the world. The detail that she was the daughter of the Kurfürst of Silesia somewhat muted their outspoken dislike of her, but not by as much she would have liked.

With Manny still in South America, probably taking as many stupid risks as his father had thirty years earlier, Helene had enough to worry about. Especially because Suse Rosa was incredibly tight lipped about the state of her relationship with Manny. God help her, but this was one of those times when Helene wished that Suse was more like Gerta. The last thing she needed right now was a bunch of blowhards upset that an author and a television studio had made them look like easily led fools in a work of fiction.

“Potsdam has a Criminal Court, yes?” Helene asked.

“Yes, Ma’am” Her Aide replied, “But I was thinking that…”

“Whatever your idea is, forget about it” Helene said, “This is hardly a matter for us to get involved in. Brandenburg is among the States that doesn’t like how heavy-handed the BII and the Federal Police can be at times. I think that this is one of those times when we should listen.”

“Yes, Ma’am” The Aide replied.



Near Los Quenes, Romeral, Chile

The idea was preposterous.

That the President of Chile had contacted their own Government through back channels and the BND had confirmed that the communication was legitimate. Supposedly, Salvador Allende had realized that one man was the single biggest obstacle to peace. Allende had offered to serve him up on a platter because while he wanted him gone, he preferred a dead martyr to a living threat so he couldn’t arrange it himself. Instead, he had turned to the BND through intermediaries. The shadowy Hunter/Killer teams were occupied elsewhere, but they had heard about the raids that Manny had conducted during the siege of Rio Gallegos, and they had asked him if he would volunteer to take the mission. They even let him pick his own team.

The rub was the team in question was less than thrilled about being volunteered for this. They had not even been informed of the details until just hours before they departed from Córdoba. Einar had made a point of reminding him that the first rule of being in any Army since the dawn of time was to never volunteer.

Manny understood the perspective of the Estonian Stabsgefreiter, he knew that Einar Tann was a good gunner with a reputation of being unflappable, and they would need every bit of firepower at their disposal if things got hairy and they wanted to get out alive. The selection of Christian was easy enough. The two of them went back to Basic Training. Ralf was an easy selection; he was a maestro with radio equipment. The fifth member of the team, Rook, wasn’t even going to be leaving Berlin but could still provide them with intelligence. If they made it out alive, Manny figured that he ought to have Einar fire some shots over Rook’s head so that he felt he was a part of the action.

As the helicopter flew through the narrow passages through the Andes Mountains, Manny thought about how he had been asked if he had any moral qualms about shooting an unsuspecting man far from the front lines. Manny had told them that if it got him home one day sooner after spending more than a year in South America, he would happily shoot a dozen.

As the helicopter set down in a clearing and they jumped out and headed cautiously towards the tree line. Only a minute later they could hear the sound of the helicopter’s engine fading in the distance. Just like that, the real mission had begun.
 
Last edited:
If Manny is successful and gets out alive then he gets permanently transferred to the BND much to the chagrin of his parents, Opa von Richthofen but most ominously his Aunt Kat who still harbors resentments from her days with Abwehr and Johannes Schultz.
 
If Manny is successful and gets out alive then he gets permanently transferred to the BND much to the chagrin of his parents, Opa von Richthofen but most ominously his Aunt Kat who still harbors resentments from her days with Abwehr and Johannes Schultz.
Manny may find himself with an invitation to attend Wunsdorf-Zossen after this...
 
It's all fun and games until Manny gets a click out from the LZ, two shots fire behind him at a distance, and it turns out the Chileans aren't quite as useless as everyone thinks and start tracking him through their countryside.
 
It's all fun and games until Manny gets a click out from the LZ, two shots fire behind him at a distance, and it turns out the Chileans aren't quite as useless as everyone thinks and start tracking him through their countryside.
It depends if it's an Allende or a Pinochet loyalist in charge of the response. If it's an Allende loyalist then expect the building to be locked down for a day or so to allow the escape. if it's a Pinochet loyalist in charge then all bets are off and you have a very stark study in the validity of current E&E training.
 
Keeping the sun to his back, Reinaldo lined up with the road. Like shooting fish in a barrel…
Famous last words, or thoughts in this case.
Looking out the top hatch of the turret, Paul could see them on either side of Ferdinand. Their kit was kept as light as possible, with them taking pride in the fact that they had the smallest logistical chain of any Army in the world. Rice, raisins, and whatever was unlucky enough to find itself in the stewpot were what they said sustained them. Even their rifles, which had clearly been influenced by the Mauser G44, had been designed to suit their ideas about rapid movement in warfare.
Japanese Imperial Army logistics still operating on the shoestring/forage method I see.
Helene could feel a stress headache coming on just listening to the latest news about a protest outside a television studio that had turned violent in Potsdam. It seemed that one of the major networks had adapted the speculative fiction books that she had read years earlier at the insistence of her friend Judita which had depicted the rise of a disturbing version of Germany that has risen after a defeat at the hands of the Triple Entente, eventually being led by a madman named Martin Seiler.
Poor Helene. Stress headaches suck. The Martin Seiler reference still eludes me though. I know he's TTL's AH version of Stumpy, but if he has a OTL namesake, I'd love to know.
Manny understood the perspective of the Estonian Stabsgefreiter, he knew that Einar Tann was a good gunner with a reputation of being unflappable, and they would need every bit of firepower at their disposal if things got hairy and they wanted to get out alive. The selection of Christian was easy enough. The two of them went back to Basic Training. Ralf was an easy selection; he was a maestro with radio equipment. The fifth member of the team, Rook, wasn’t even going to be leaving Berlin but could still provide them with intelligence. If they made it out alive, Manny figured that he ought to have Einar fire some shots over Rook’s head so that he felt he was a part of the action.
This Rook character. For some reason, I'm beginning to suspect that Rook might possibly be Malcolm von Mischner-Blackwood.
 
To bad Reinaldo didn't make it as I had visions of him going back to the States just to have the USN tell him that it would be best for him and the Navy to part ways.
Afterwards the only job he could get was to fly DC-9s for PSA going from San Diego-Burbank-Sacramento-San Jose-LAX-Oakland-San Diego everyday.
That would have been a real Hell for him as the only good thing for him is at that time the Flight Attendants for PSA were some of the best looking around (so I've heard).
 
Last edited:
The Martin Seiler reference still eludes me though. I know he's TTL's AH version of Stumpy, but if he has a OTL namesake, I'd love to know.
Stumpy is totally unknown ITTL. Martin Seiler is a made up name, but Martin comes from Roman Martinus, derived from Martis, the genitive case of Mars, God of War, the personification of brutality and bloodlust. The name Seiler is an old occupational name, it means Rope Maker, and I think the meaning behind that name becomes obvious.
 
Stumpy is totally unknown ITTL. Martin Seiler is a made up name, but Martin comes from Roman Martinus, derived from Martis, the genitive case of Mars, God of War, the personification of brutality and bloodlust. The name Seiler is an old occupational name, it means Rope Maker, and I think the meaning behind that name becomes obvious.
For some reason when I first read that name I had this guy in my mind...
Not sure why.
 
One of the things that is bugging the Nationalists about"The Martin Seiler Saga" is very unrealistic in their eyes because even through they won't admit it the prism that they see contemporary Germany in was forged over the years by Augustus Lang and Louis Ferdinand and they can't comprehend a someone like Seiler becoming a leader in their movement.
Of course they and others could see it happening very easy in the United States but never in Germany because as we all know German culture is the envy of the world and it is the most civilized nation in the world.
 
Part 124, Chapter 2097
Chapter Two Thousand Ninety-Seven



13th October 1971

Moscow, Russia

The first snowfall of winter always brought about a bit of contemplation. Her life continued to be complicated by other people’s ideas about just who she was. She had talked to Kat and Aunt Marcella about it, more like vented to her adopted family who happened to be the only people aside from Fyodor and Alexei who truly knew her. Aunt Marcella had told her to go parading stark naked around Red Square if she really wanted to solve that problem, much to Gia’s total mortification and Kat found that hilarious. The alternative was to ignore other people’s expectations and get on with her life.

In years past it wouldn’t have been as serious an issue. Gia would have stayed in her house near Lake Baikal until the end of autumn only returning with first snow. This year though, she had needed to return earlier because her son, Alexei, had been starting school and she had created a scene when she had dropped him off there on his first day. Despite her best efforts to keep it lowkey, a handful of photographers had shown up and then there had been the teachers, other parents, and children… It had been a mess.

Her husband, Fyodor, was happy to have her back early. He had been unable to come with them to Siberia this year because he had been needed to lead the observer mission in Santiago as the Russian Military was extremely keen to keep tabs on what their German and American counterparts were up to. The war between Argentina and Chile was a bit of a proxy war between those two powers, though the Germans had decided to get involved directly. Fyodor had come home to Moscow after all nonessential staff in the Russian Embassy in Santiago had been evacuated. His cover was of someone who wasn’t essential by any stretch of the imagination, so if he had stuck around, it would have drawn the wrong sort of scrutiny. Anya had said that she was coming home for the holidays this year. But Anya being Anya and with the demanding job she had in Berlin, Gia knew that she couldn’t be sure until Anya stepped off the train in Moscow.

On the other hand, Gia was finally making progress in improving housing standards in Russia. For years, she had fought a somewhat lonely battle against corruption and officialdom as the consequences of poor city planning had piled up in the major cities of Russia. Then everything had changed this month when a Romantic Comedy reached the theaters that made fun of those things as well as the profound lack of imagination by Russian Architects in the Post-War Era. The entire plot revolved around a man who goes out drinking with his friends on New Year’s Eve. Through a series of mishaps, he ends up on a plane to Saint Petersburg and upon arriving, mistakenly thinking he was still in Moscow catches a cab to a nearly identical address and an apartment almost exactly like his own with his key even working in the door. Hijinks ensue.

The people who Gia had battled for years could ignore public protests and even the condemnation by the Church for their exploitive treatment of the poor. However, it had turned out that being made fun of was not something that they could stand. If Gia had known about that, she would have tried it ages ago.



Near Curicó, Maule, Chile

It was near sunset when Christian made it back to the bivouac outside the city. Something about the plan had bothered Manny and he had wanted to get to learn to few things before the time came for them execute it. The trouble was that they couldn’t just walk into Curicó and take a look.

Manny was two meters tall and stood out like a sore thumb pretty much everywhere in South America. Everyone joked that Einar was a Viking despite him being from the sort of place that the Norse would have raided way back when. Come to think of it, that may well have a great deal as to why Einar looked the part. Despite having lived in South America for a year, Ralf only knew enough Spanish to pick a fight and if you looked in the dictionary under German Soldier, it would probably have a picture of someone looked exactly like him. That left Christian, he looked the part and so long as he kept his mouth shut no one would figure that he wasn’t just some passerby.

That morning, Christian had left wearing purloined civilian clothes. Now, hours later he was walking back, and he had seen far more than any of them had anticipated. Approaching cautiously, he found himself staring down the barrel of Einar’s MG64. The light machinegun could spit out bullets so fast that it would cut you in half before you even knew it was being fired.

“Password?” Einar asked.

“Fuck off” Christian replied. He had been on his feet all day and didn’t feel like messing with that sort of shit.

“Close enough” Einar said as Christian shoved past him. Finding Manny dozing in the shade of the trees of the wooded area they had been hiding in.

“You were right to be worried” Christian said, “I walked past the gates of the town garrison and saw men from the 3rd Mountain Division guarding the place.”

“Any idea of their numbers?” Manny asked.

“At least a Regiment” Christian answered, “The shitters seldom lie.”

It was something that had been discovered during the Soviet War that Jost had made sure they knew. That most military units tried to conceal their exact numbers. For various reasons they might want the enemy to think that there were fewer or greater numbers present. One of the things that was seldom thought about though was that all the men would need to take a dump eventually and no one wanted to set up a latrine if they didn’t have to. So, one of the best ways to estimate the size of an enemy force was to try to get a look at those very facilities.

Manny had figured that it was all too neat. The instant he took the shot, the four of them would become loose ends. If they tried to flee afterwards, a Regiment of elite Mountain Troops were perfect for running them down and intelligence had said they were not supposed to be anywhere near here. Manny had spoken to General Schultz about this exact situation.

“Any idea about what we are going to do now?” Christian asked.

“There’s an American term” Manny said, “Calling an audible.”

“A what?”
 
Last edited:
“Calling an audible.”, is in fact a term from American football where the quarter back changes the play at the last moment. So here it I suspect that it means just that Manny is not going to take 'Take the shot' but neutralise the target by some other means that does not point the finger strait at his team!
 
“Calling an audible.”, is in fact a term from American football where the quarter back changes the play at the last moment. So here it I suspect that it means just that Manny is not going to take 'Take the shot' but neutralise the target by some other means that does not point the finger strait at his team!
Let the wild speculation on how he will do this begin in...

3



2



1


NOW!
 
I don't think they have the required parts or knowledge to make an effective IED and that would cause significant collateral damage, so will he be taking the shot at a different time and location?
This isn't ASB fantasy so they can't steal some uniforms and walk in, (Do any of them even speak Spanish?), so I'm thinking a remote strike. Long range shot or an airstrike maybe?
 
Top