Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread III

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Eight Hundred Fifty-Four



1st July 1968

Krakow, provisional capital of Galicia.

When Olli had last been out to his farm, he had seen how the fields lay fallow and anything of value had been taken elsewhere for safe keeping. Nele had moved into relative safety of Krakow and the children had been sent to Kurt’s house in Prague. The entire place had felt empty and more than anything, he wanted to pay the Government in Warsaw back for this, with interest and he had been given an embarrassment of riches when it came to the mean by which he would carry that out, if it came down to it.

At the stroke of midnight, the states of Galicia and Ruthenia had formally declared independence from the Kingdom of Poland. Along with this, they formally petitioned for recognition from the Reichstag and the Emperor. It was something that Olli had argued against, because for the Government in Warsaw it was like waving a cape in front of an enraged bull and he wasn’t sure if the Galician Provisional Government understood just how precarious their situation really was.

When Warsaw learned of this, they would put all of their differences aside and come charging south with everything they had. Throughout the spring and early summer Olli had taken advantage of the bad roads that had become soup with the thaw and the piecemeal manner in which the Polish Army had committed troops. He had never thought that he would be thankful for Warsaw’s miserly attitude when it came to public works or the snail’s pace which entrenched military bureaucracy operated, but it was what had saved them so far.

The Provisional Government was placing a lot of faith in what had recently been renamed the Galician and Ruthenian Landwehr Divisions to hold off the Poles until… That was the problem. No one seemed to know what the endgame was and as much as Olli had tried to get them to think about that, they weren’t interested. Instead, they were debating the text of the constitution. The last time Olli had been in the church hall that was being used by the Provisional Council, he had been asked what he thought about the Head of State, should they have a King or President? Olli had turned around and said that they should have every able-bodied man with a rifle or machine pistol in their hands because all of this debating would be academic if the Warsaw Government had them lined up and shot.

“In the event of a real emergency, every man will take up arms as you are suggesting” The Head of the Council had said, “This body does thank you for dedication and calls for unity in the meantime General Bauer.”

“Major” Olli had corrected him but got ignored, like always.

Now a few weeks later, Olli was staring at a map of the region trying to figure out where the natural lines of defense were and how to exploit them. The raw numbers, of men and supplies, were on pieces of paper that were scattered all over the floor of the warehouse that he had been using as a headquarters. He had made sure that the Poles knew exactly where it was because he had a few surprises in store for them if they were stupid enough to storm the building, because he had no intention of coming back once he left this evening. There would be some Polish Commandos with confused expressions on their faces as they tried to explain to Saint Peter what had happened.

The rest of Galicia had been as prepared as Olli could make it. There were certain things that he had no shortage of. Earth moving equipment and the precursors for explosives being two of the most notable examples and he had made full use of them. He had put to use every trick he could remember using or having been on the receiving end of across four continents. Railroad tracks and roads that ended abruptly or were heavily mined, misleading maps that had been produced by the thousands that left for any advancing army to find, even classics such as caltrops and scare cats were widely spread throughout the countryside. As it had turned out, producing landmines and an updated version of the Panzerfaust 60 was well within the abilities of local industry.

Another welcome development was the recent news that Ukrainian, Silesian, and Bohemian volunteers had been coming into the region bolstering their ranks. While not yet as close to parity, as Olli would have liked they were no longer as badly outnumbered as they had been a few months earlier.

Now all Olli could do was wait, make plans, and hope that someone in Warsaw or Berlin was able to have a moment of clarity long enough to see a way out this mess before anyone else got killed.



Outside Warsaw, Poland

They were finally taking the gloves off, was how the Prime Minister had put it in a radio address just a few minutes ago. Imagine a guest who overstays their welcome, sticks you with the bill for whatever tab they have run up, when you get fed up and ask them to leave, they act like they own the place. That was how it had been put. The address had concluded with the Premier saying that they had a mandate from their ancestors throughout all of history who had payed in blood so that Poland would never be partitioned by foreign powers again.

Bogdan Gajos was one of thousands who were headed south to serve the eviction notice.

Looking ahead, Bogdan could see them as one long mass on the road heading to Krakow. Somewhere along the way someone had broken out the red and white flags of Poland and they started sing patriotic songs that had long fallen into disuse as their country had been dragged into ever deeper involvement in the German Empire. This wasn’t just notice on those who were trying to steal away Lesser Poland, but the larger Empire as well. The time for acquiescence was over.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Eight Hundred Fifty-Five



4th July 1968

South of Miechów, Poland

Sometime over the last few days, Bogdan had remembered why he had thought that the Government Ministers had heads that were full of rocks. The journey towards Krakow had turned into a bloodbath and as far as he knew, the Army had yet to reach the main enemy defensive line.

The righteous cause that they had espoused on the first day seemed like a distant memory on the first night when he had been one of the multitudes trying to keep dry as it had started raining. Then they had entered the low range of hills that marked the boundary of the Upper Vistula Basin and discovered that the Separatists had been busy over the last several months. He had found himself constantly yelling at conscripts to look before they stepped because there were frog mines everywhere. The cursed things could chop the legs out from under anyone who blundered into one. Then one of their Officers had found a map that had gotten them lost in these hills for several hours. In the distance there was occasional rifle fire that according to other units encountered, was the result of hit and fade attacks. Finally, they had found what they assumed was the main road. The signs had been not removed but moved, because of course they had.

Attaching themselves to an armored column that was making its way south had seemed like a good deal until the Lynx at the head of column was hit by several anti-tank rockets. Bogdan had barely realized what had happened when a hidden machine gun opened up on his Platoon and he was left scrambling for the nearest ditch. He landed on his stomach and realized that the three prongs to a frog mine were poking out of the earth a few inches from his nose.

“The ditches are mined!” Bogdan yelled only to hear a series of loud explosions close by and screams. He raised his head just in time to see an explosion rip through the last Panzer in the column. Meaning that the column was effectively trapped until recovery vehicles made their way here. Crawling out of the ditch, Bogdan saw what was left of his Platoon trying to sort out this mess.

Bogdan suddenly remembered his father’s cynical words. Government was something that you had to pay attention to, otherwise it would happen to you. He realized at that moment that this was what that looked like just as mortar shells started dropping in among the trapped armored vehicles. Did the complete bastard commanding the enemy forces ever run out of ideas for making life miserable? Looking into the trees he saw a steel cutout of a cat with two glass eyes that glowed yellow and was chilled to the bone.



Potsdam

The office used by the Emperor in the Summer Residence always seemed an island, a rare oasis of calm and remote from the world. Today, things were different. Despite his best efforts, things had spiraled out of control in Poland and it was far beyond even Louis Ferdinand’s control.

Reports were coming in of heavy fighting north of Krakow and east of Lwów. There was also a report of a large explosion that had rocked Krakow a couple days earlier. It seemed that the Poles had attempted to attack the headquarters of the Commander of the Galicia faction and the building had blown up.

Sitting in Louis’ office as he yelled into the phone, Kat and Freddy could only watch as he placed calls trying to get a handle on what was happening in Poland. He had blown up when he had caught the Premier of Poland in an obvious lie. Now hanging up the phone, Louis just looked incredibly weary as he rubbed his eyes.

“We aren’t supposed to be fighting each other” Louis said before looking at Kat. “Any ideas?”

“Just bad ones and worse ones” Kat replied, the tone of her voice suggesting that she was taking this matter very seriously.

“Let this be a lesson to you about the nature of this job, Friedrich” Louis said, “What is the least bad option?”

“Air strikes that will cripple the ability of both sides to continue the conflict, followed by peacekeeping forces and the players forced to the table, at gunpoint if needed” Kat said, “A meeting of the High Command is taking place right now, they have several contingency plans that they are sorting through and a call from them is expected any minute.”

“And the worse option?” Louis asked, “Do I even want to know?”

“Let’s just say that the Roman Centurions would have appreciated the outcome if such a plan were ever carried out.”

Kat heard Louis mutter something under his breath that sounded like swear words in Latin. A classical education being put to use, but not in the way that his teachers had ever imagined.

The phone rang and Louis answered, suddenly he looked very annoyed. Whoever was on the other end of the line must have tried to make an excuse about something. Kat had noticed that Louis had grown less tolerant of that the older he got.

“I don’t care if you have to chain her to the wall” Louis said into the phone, “She has already sacrificed far more than anyone should have to, and I don’t want her anywhere near this. Try reminding her of her responsibilities there.”

With that Louis hung up the phone again.

“When the Commander in Chief of the OKW calls back, tell him that I want the KSK taking lead on this” Louis said, “And Katherine, try to remember that this is a matter that requires a delicate touch and a surgeon’s scalpel, not a chainsaw.”

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Eight Hundred Fifty-Six



8th July 1968

Tegel, Berlin

Getting the call from the Luftwaffe telling him that SKG 18 had been put on high alert and that everyone needed to report in was unexpected. It was essentially telling him that they were at war. It was incredibly odd because there had been no build up, no international tensions or even very much in the news.

“JG 1 and JG 7 are to provide top cover as you approach your targets” The Oberst who commanded the 18th Fast Attack Wing said. That was good news, no one flying a fighter/bomber wanted to get bounced as they were climbing out of an attack run and the two Wings mentioned had recently upgraded to the latest fighters produced by Focke-Wulf, the FW 431, would prevent that from happening.

The rub was exactly where the target was.

“With all due respect Sir, is this some kind of joke?”

Ben had no idea who said it, but it was what everyone was thinking.

“I wish it were” The Oberst replied. The board he was standing in front of had an elaborate map showing the details the upcoming mission. Airstrikes in heavily defended airspace that was in their own back garden, heavily defended as in it would be systems designed by their own side.

Ben heard Wim take a sharp intake of breath. He had been working with the cynical Systems Officer for years and this really was the worst of all worlds for them. It was precisely the sort of situation that Wim had had been complaining about for ages. Fortunately, Wim had learned when to keep his mouth shut over that time.

With that, the briefing ended, and everyone started to walk towards the flight line, only to have the Oberst pull Ben aside.

“You’ve been grounded Hauptmann Hirsch” The Oberst said.

“What?” Ben asked, “Why?”

“It seems that your girlfriend’s father doesn’t want to give her an excuse to go into another active theater” The Oberst said, “That is what happens when you are in a relationship with a girl who has a death drive and happens to be the daughter of one of the most powerful men in the world. There will be plenty for you to be doing here in the meantime.”

Ben was annoyed, to say the least. He knew that this wasn’t Kiki’s fault and it was just like her to want to go where she felt she would be most needed. The fact that it was affecting him this time made it different though and Wim didn’t need to look so relieved by this turn of events.



Hohenzollern Castle

Kiki was in the castle’s bailey watching Rauchbier run around. That was abruptly interrupted by a group of girls coming out of one of the doors. Rauchbier was instantly among them, always eager to be the center of attention and perhaps find some tasty tidbit to mooch. She heard the girls start giggling as the one who they frequently joked was the real prince of the castle was among them. Kiki had heard from some of the servants that having the children around brought life to the castle during the summertime. It was easy to believe that. There had been times in the past when Kiki had been here during the winter months and the largely empty castle had fed into her depression like few other things. The Neo-Gothic stylings of the place under grey skies could easily create an absolutely oppressive environment when someone was in the wrong frame of mind.

Rauchbier came running back, happily wagging his tail and resuming his place at Kiki’s side as she walked towards the kitchen garden. The girls just stared at her as she walked past. It was a reminder that she needed to not be so distant with them. They still looked at her in awe, the Lady of the Castle and all of that. They needed to learn that she was just as fallible as anyone else, the only difference being that her mistakes tended to have greater consequences.

When Kiki had learned about the unfolding crisis in Southern Poland and humanitarian disaster that experts were saying was inevitable, she had started packing her things and had ordered someone to go into Stuttgart to buy as much in the way of medical supplies as they could find. Unknown to Kiki was that Officer commanding her security detail had called her father and he had among, other things, been given permission to do whatever it took to keep her here.

In the end, the medical supplies had been delivered to the International Red Cross and they had made a big show upgrading her Red Cross medal and awarding her an East Asia Service clasp. All she could do was smile and accept the award as she was seething inside. Her father had ordered her personal accounts in the Imperial Bank frozen and every expense had to be approved before the money would be released with the express instructions that no money be spent to facilitate her travel to a combat zone. Her father had told her that if she were so intent upon personal destruction, she would need to do it by her own means. She had the option of walking to Poland if she still wanted to.

That left Kiki stuck in Hohenzollern Castle. The part that really bothered her though was that Kat had warned her dozens of times about how she needed to create a life for herself independent of her family or else they would always be able to control her this way. It was a bit late to realize exactly what Kat had been talking about.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Eight Hundred Fifty-Seven



9th July 1968

Warsaw, Poland

The broken glass under his feet from the decanter said more about their situation than Mieczysławm Moczar was prepared to admit. The night before, Moczar had been in his office when Warsaw had been buffeted by sonic booms and the lights had gone out. Out of the window he had seen anti-aircraft artillery shooting blindly into the night, the yellow-green tracers filling the sky. Later he would learn that the radar installations that were meant to guide their fire had been the first thing that had been hit, followed by powerplants and the Warsaw railyards. In mere minutes, a modern city had been knocked back to the Fifteenth Century. Then reports had then started coming in of rail junctions being carpet bombed while bridges had been hit with almost supernatural precision.

No one had noticed that Stanisław Mikołajczyk, the Prime Minister of Poland, had suffered some sort of event in his home office for several hours after it had happened. By the time the housemaid had found him his body had already grown cold. When Moczar entered the office, he had seen the Premier on the floor face-down in a pool of what smelled like gin and shards of glass from where the decanter had hit the floor and shattered. On the Premier’s desk were several telegrams from Louis Ferdinand giving him an ultimatum, cease the provocative actions or else. Moczar had thought that the events of the night before had been a surprise attack. The truth was that Mikołajczyk must have thought that the German Emperor was bluffing and had apparently fallen over dead when the bluff was called.

The problem facing Moczar was that in a few hours everyone would know about this because it was simply too big to be contained. The normal process was to have the King appoint a new Prime Minister until elections could be arranged. The telegrams on the desk showed exactly what the issue with that was. Coupled with the recent reverses that the Polish Army had suffered. When the people inevitably learned of this, the present Government would be lucky if they weren’t torn to pieces by angry mobs.



Potsdam

It was a pleasant afternoon with fluffy clouds filling the sky. The summers in Germany had taken a bit of getting used to for Suga, they were different from the hot, humid summers she had experienced in Japan. She remembered Kiki’s reaction when she had first arrived as a teenager in Kyoto and hadn’t understood it at the time. It wasn’t in Kiki’s nature to complain, outwardly anyway, but she had clearly been suffering due to the climate. Suga had decided that spending the afternoon outdoors would be a wonderful idea, taking Mirai and Alexandrine with her.

The Zen garden and pagoda had been a present from her new family when she had married into it because they had felt that she would like a taste of home. It wasn’t exactly authentic when compared to what was found in Japan with many of the details slightly wrong, but she had been touched by their effort to make her feel welcome.

Now, a few years later Suga was preparing tea while watching Mirai as she lay on a rock that formed an overhang over the pond, transfixed by the brightly colored Koi that swam in the still water below. At four, Mirai was still trying to come to terms with the idea that she now had a little sister.

Mercifully, Alex was sleeping in her carrier which Suga had placed in the shade, something that was completely unpredictable with babies and Suga was enjoying it while it lasted. A couple weeks earlier, Louis Senior had arranged for his younger sister, Alex’s namesake Aunt Adini to visit Potsdam and she had been overjoyed to meet her newest great niece. Too many people treated those like Adini badly, Suga had recognized that she was a warm and caring woman who didn’t allow her difficulties to define who she was. Louis’ mother had always insisted that she be a very visible part of the family and Louis had tried to continue that, though Adini preferred to remain at her home in Starnberg, just south of Munich, most of the time. Adini had mentioned that she had been a little scared, that Alex may have been born with a similar genetic condition as hers. That wasn’t the case though, the only oddity with Alex was that she had inherited her father’s eyes, which coupled with her Euro-Asian features would give her a startingly exotic appearance when she got older.

“Opa!” Mirai yelled and she rolled off the rock and ran to Louis who had been walking from the Summer Residence.

Suga watched as Mirai started talking at her grandfather in a manner that few other people did. To his credit, he just listened and did his best to answer her questions. Like always Louis did his best to dress like a businessman. Today he was wearing a summer suit that was cut from lightweight tan fabric, a red tie, and white fedora. The hat was clearly being worn at the suggestion of Charlotte. Louis was rather famous for the lack of fashion sense he had taken on over the years, so it was unlikely he chose that for himself. He also looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

“Decided to hide out here while the Headmaster is looking for you?” Suga asked.

“That is a little too on the nose” Louis replied, “Ever have a day when it seems like the whole world is trying to drive you mad?”

“Try being a mother” Suga said as Alex woke up and started fussing.

“Touché” Louis replied, amused by that answer.

Over time, Suga had become something of an expert in trying to sort out the meaning of her children’s cries. There weren’t many, mostly letting her know if they were hungry, tired or had just soiled themselves. The nurse who always hovered nearby wasn’t nearly as attuned to them. Back in Japan it would have been unthinkable that a woman in Suga’s station would take such an active roll in raising her children. It was a small act of rebellion, one she delighted in. While she saw to Alex’s needs, Louis kept Mirai busy. When she was done, she grabbed the rope connected to the bell that was there for the exact purpose she put to.

A moment later, one of the Palace Servants appeared.

“The Emperor is going to be joining us for tea” Suga said, “Please let the kitchen know.”

“Very well your highness” The Servant said before disappearing.

Louis just smiled at Suga’s presumption, even he needed to take a break occasionally.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Eight Hundred Fifty-Eight



19th July 1968

Danzig

It had turned out that Reier’s prediction from years earlier had come to pass. As soon as the order went out that the entirety of the Marine Infantry was to prepare for movement Tilo realized what was about to happen right about the time that the Grand Admiral in Kiel had called him. He told Tilo that he had been promoted to General of Branch and was tapped to take command of the what had been dubbed Army Group North consisting of the Marine Infantry presently in the Baltic Area of Operations as well as two Heer Field Armies that were massing around Danzig and Königsberg. Word came through the Naval Academy that anyone in the Senior Class who wanted to volunteer for the Marine Infantry would receive a direct Commission without the Navy being mentioned he had almost cursed aloud. Whatever this was, Wunsdorf was expecting it to be a potential meat grinder.

Reier had his usual attitude and was happy about getting back into action. He had heard what had happened and had come in with a big grin on his face. There had never been a General of Marines before now and that was only a short step away from General Oberst and a Field Marshal’s baton. He had then caught a plane to Berlin where he had been briefed on the particulars. When the Luftwaffe and Fleet Air Command had started pounding the crap out of the Poles and he had been the process of making plans.

Finding out that Poland was in open rebellion wasn’t as much a surprise to Tilo as it seemed to be for everyone else when all of this had started. Even a cursory look at who had been in charge in Warsaw over the last few years made this turn seem obvious. While they were to regard the Polish Army and the Freikorps of Galicia and Ruthenia as equally problematic forces, anyone with any sense would see which faction was more likely to greet them as liberators or be hostile. Army Group South under the Command of General Hans von Mischner was likely to have a much faster advance through Galicia than he would through the north.

The real surprise in the briefing was that there were going to be the Fallschirmjäger Divisions involved in a hush hush operation. The scuttlebutt suggested that they were going to be deployed to support the efforts of the KSK and everyone knew whose personal fiefdom that was.



Hohenzollern Castle

One of the things that Kiki’s father had made a point of reminder her was that she had responsibilities here in Principality. Beyond the obligations that dated from feudal times, she also had forty children under her care for the summer as a part of her mother’s foundation this year and a Japanese corporation’s Chief Executive Officer was here along with his family and entourage.

Being able to discuss the possibilities of locating facilities in this region to gain access to the European market and the cachet that came from being her guest were things that American and Japanese Executives found irresistible. Lately, King Albrecht of Bavaria had gotten in on the act, but he had a reputation of not being nearly as approachable or accommodating.

That also meant that she frequently had the medical issues that children accumulated to contend with. Mostly in the form of scraped knees and sunburns. However, at the moment Kiki was having to explain the particulars to one of her patients who had presented with a condition that would definitely affect the rest of her life when Marie Alexandra came to her complaining of feeling ill and having a stomachache. Kiki had only needed a few minutes to learn what was really going on and what Marie had been trying to hide. A five-minute phone conversation with Douglas revealed that this couldn’t have happened at a worse time. Growing up was a painful process and the last thing anyone wanted was to be alone during the scarier moments.

“I called your father Marie” Kiki said, “Your mother is out of communication right now and he is trying to get a message through to her, but he can arrange for you to go home if you like.”

Marie just looked at Kiki with conflicted emotions playing out on her face. Going home was the last thing she wanted to do this summer but at the same time she wanted what any girl… Kiki realized that she could no longer call Marie that anymore and changed that to young woman… wanted. Someplace safe to process this, home and family being best. Kiki remembered clinging to her mother years earlier, it had been one of the few moments when they had been genuinely close. The rest of the time her mother had been from another era who had done what she thought was best for her children by trying to get them to conform to that. Small wonder that they had eventually come to blows and Kiki had been exiled to Japan.

“I want to stay with you” Marie said.

“Fine then” Kiki replied and even as she said it, she realized that she had watched Marie’s birth and had been present during every single major event in her life during the years since.

“You said this will happen again, next month?” Marie asked.

“Yes” Kiki replied.

“That is fucking bullshit” Marie spat at her.

Kiki wasn’t inclined to disagree with that assessment of the situation.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Eight Hundred Fifty-Nine



23rd July 1968

Kattowitz

There were a lot of headaches involved with this operation as Hans was discovering because it was entirely his show and his temporary headquarters was a hive of activity as they prepared for the upcoming mission. The Commander of Army Group North, Dietrich Schultz, had caused Hans no end of trouble from afar. He had a hard time squaring the man on the phone with the man who had occasionally come around as the husband of one his sister’s dear friends. The 5th and 8th Armies were collectively aghast at being under the command of what they regarded as a complete lunatic along with the presence of the Marine Infantry Divisions who they were now considered on par with. There was also General Schultz’s rather unorthodox ideas in how to carry out the campaign that made the more conservative among them really howl. Hans figured that if Schultz got the same reaction from the Poles in a few days then he would be doing something right.

Then there was his dear sister who had learned that her youngest daughter had passed a major life milestone without her because of the crisis. Hans was afraid of what Kat was capable of when came to making the Polish Government pay for that. He knew from past experience that expecting her to do something insane when she got angry was in fact underestimating her. Cranking the insanity up to ten and then setting the dial on fire was probably closer to what was about to happen as the KSK went into Poland.

Here in Silesia it was a different story, Hans had the 2nd, 3rd, and 6th Armies under his direct command. He had been surprised to see that his former command, the 3rd Landwehr, based in Silesia had greeted him with a lot of fanfare. They had been tasked with setting up the logistics ahead of his arrival and clearly remembered him. He had also received word from Kurt Knispel that the Bohemian Panzer Corps was prepared to jump across the border into Galicia as soon as he did. Hans would need to correct Kurt as soon as he saw him. The disputed territory was legally a part of Poland until the political process played out. Talk about this matter where it seemed like they were taking sides would complicate the mission and Hans didn’t want that.

“Sir, your notes for the press conference are ready” One of his aides said upon entering his office. “Do I need to go over the points with you again?”

Of all the things that Hans had ever thought that he had needed, a team of Public Relations Officers had not exactly been too high on the list. They were the ones who had insisted on coaching him in how to answer questions from the press without actually telling them anything of any importance. Join the Army and learn a trade, Hans thought to himself sarcastically.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Meeting the Tigress earlier that week had been unexpected. Fürstin von Mischner had arrived at 7th Recon’s bivouac and had requested to meet with Christian personally. It seemed that she had known his Uncle Karl decades earlier and hoped that Christian would prove just as brave and resourceful as he had been. Naturally, he had a lot of questions with his father’s oldest brother having died years before Christian had been born. The Fürstin had been happy to answer them, stating that Christian’s Uncle had been an explosives expert in the Heer before he had been recruited by Abwehr. That included being part of the team that had worked directly for Jacob von Schmidt and led by Johann Schultz. Those were two names that Christian was familiar with. She had then mentioned that Christian’s Uncle had attempted to disarm the bomb in the basement of the Reichstag while the evacuation had been going on throughout the building. When the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross had been instituted in 1944, Karl Weise had been the first soldier to be awarded the medal, posthumously.

Christian’s Uncle Karl had been a face in a photograph that his Grandmother kept on the mantlepiece and no one had ever talked about him. The Fürstin had described him as a fun prankster, the sort who could make a bomb out of nearly anything and had been all around the world. He had also been someone who had gone into a dangerous situation to save lives, knowing that the odds were heavily stacked against him, without any thought for himself.

All of that had left Christian rather thoughtful as the 7th Recon prepared to be one of the first elements of the 2nd Army to cross into Poland. He had recently been promoted to Gefreiter and when the 7th had gotten orders for movement, he had been a bit put out. Manny was stuck babysitting the Emperor, taking part in the elaborate rituals that took place at the Imperial Residence and the Neue Wache for the next year so that tourists could gawk at him. He was going to be out where the real action was. Manny told him not to worry about it and had been amused by Christian’s introduction to his Aunt Kat. It seemed that there was an entirely different side to the woman who he had met a few days earlier.

Looking at the Iltis that would be his ride for however long this thing lasted, Christian’s personal hope was that his luck would be far better than his Uncle’s had been. He hated to think of it that way, but that really was his present lot in life.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Eight Hundred Sixty



24th July 1968

Kattowitz

“Is your father home?” Hans asked the teenager who had answered the phone. He knew whose house he was calling in Posen, so he wasn’t too surprised by the attitude he got back.

“Who’s calling?” The teenager asked in reply in the tone of voice that he would never dare to use if Hans were there in person.

He did the math and made an educated guess.

“Tell him that his old friend Hans from the Heer needs to talk to him Adam” Hans said.

“He’s never mentioned a friend named Hans” Adam said, “And how do you know my name?”

“I am not that kind of friend” Hans replied and the way he said it must have gotten the boy to realize he was on dangerous ground.

Hans heard Adam drop the phone and a minute later Karol Wojtyla, known as Karl, because he had Germanized his first name when he had joined the Heer, picked up the phone.

“Adam is what, sixteen or seventeen now?” Hans asked mildly.

“Seventeen Johannes, and his mother and I are counting down the days before the little shit goes off to University” Karl said, “Tell me what you want before I hang up.”

“Is that any way to greet an old friend?” Hans asked.

“Your blackmailer is never your friend” Karl said, “And I know for a fact that you don’t have anything on me that is less than a decade or two old.”

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that” Hans replied, “It would be a damn shame if the State Prosecutor there in Posen should happen to learn the details of how your construction company has been landing lucrative contracts for highway construction.”

Karl didn’t hang up and Hans could hear him breathing on the other side of the line.

“What do you want?” Karl said sharply.

“I’m sure you’ve seen the news lately” Hans said, “There is this little problem in Poland I’ve been asked to straighten out and I need someone who knows the lay of the land as it were.”

Karl knew full well that he was subject to recall as a retired Generalmajor and that if Hans wanted him back, it would stick. Hans understood that he needed Karl’s expertise if he didn’t want to fuck up Poland and have to invade it again in a few years so giving him a choice in the matter wasn’t really an option. However, just getting him to leave Posen would be the major challenge.

“I’m calling your bluff this time” Karl said, “Tell the State Prosecutors whatever you like, I don’t care. I’ve an entire team of Lawyers on retainer to get me out of jams like that.”

“Have it your way then Karl” Hans said, “But, have you ever known me not to have more than one plan in a given situation?”

“Meaning what?”

“Like say for example, I happen to be talking to you on the phone to distract you and keep you from scurrying out the back while a team of Feldjäger enter your house to drag you to back my Headquarters in Kattowitz.”

“You wouldn’t have the balls to do that sort of…” Hans heard the sound of splintering wood and Karl cussing at the men who were storming his house as the phone was left off the hook. Hans could clearly hear the sounds of a rather protracted struggle going on for a few minutes before Karl was overwhelmed. Eventually, one of the Feldjäger picked up the phone.

“We got him Sir” The Officer from the Military Police said, clearly pissed. “You still want us to bring him back there? He bit one of my men.”

“Tell your man to be more careful next time” Hans replied, “And of course I still need him here.”

Hans knew that he would need to straighten out matters with Karl’s wife Ginka but understood the mercenary nature of the Wojtyla family. It would take her perhaps five seconds on the outside to see the opportunities that would exist to become filthy rich in a newly liberated Poland and she would be delighted to help with her husband, so that they could help themselves.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Now that he was a Gefreiter, Christian Weise had been placed in charge of the Recon Team that represented half of the Squad he had been assigned to. That consisted of Oberschütze Einar Tann, Kraftfahrer Rainer Maus, and Funker Ralf Blecher. Luckily, the Volkswagen Iltis they had been issued was one of the new models with the lengthened chassis, expanded crew compartment and the improved four-cylinder Diesel engine. Otherwise having the four of them packed in there would be entirely too cozy and Christian doubted they would make it more than a kilometer before there was a fight.

Looking at the Iltis now that it was completely loaded Christian just hoped that it wouldn’t bottom out too much when they hit bumps. With anything they were supposed have, they had made sure they had an extra amount of it. There were cans of diesel fuel and fresh water, crates of ammunition and rations, the tool kit that was worth its weight in gold, along with their personal effects, all crammed into the back. There were other things too such as the MG42/48 on the pintle mount and the Panzerfaust 400 that they were not supposed to have.

Einar had suggested that they get Panzerfaust through a midnight acquisition. What Christian had realized when he had asked about that was if they ran into enemy armor and the heaviest weapon that they had was the grenade launcher on his AG44, then they would be totally fucked. So, he had told Einar to do it, just not to get caught.

They also had a new Vz.60 light machine gun, two G44 rifles, Christian’s AG44 with the under-barrel grenade launcher, and a few crates of hand grenades; smoke and fragmentation.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Eight Hundred Sixty-One



25th July 1968

Silesian-Polish Frontier

It was pouring down rain and the canvas cover had been put on the Iltis, making the interior stifling hot and humid. They were stuck in traffic, so Maus kept honking the horn and cussing at the lorry towing a field howitzer in front of them. The fact that they were able to pick up the University stations back in Berlin on the civilian radio that was held to the top of dashboard with tie wire showed just how whacked this entire operation was. At least there was music to listen to though, that is if Maus would cut it out.

“You hit that horn one more time, I’m ripping it out and shoving it up your ass!” Christian yelled at Maus.

“This guy drives like my fucking grandmother!” Maus yelled back.

“And if in a few days, we need fire support because we have half the Polish Army about to overrun us. It would be just our luck that his outfit is the one who gets the call” Christian said, “Then they lose the message and have a good laugh because you are being an asshole.”

“Whatever” Maus muttered under his breath, as he paused from honking the horn for at least a few minutes.

Einar was just staring at raindrops running down the clear plastic that made up the window, ignoring everyone else. Ralf was doing his job, in theory. He had his headphones on and was monitoring the two radios in the back in case something came through from either Command or tactical networks. It was impossible to tell if he was even awake.

They sat in awkward silence for a few minutes. Then Einar farted loudly. Christian’s eyes were watering as he unzipped the window to let some air in, even diesel exhaust would have to smell better.

“What weird Viking shit have you been eating” Maus demanded as he waved his hand in front of his nose.

“I’m no more a Viking than you are, Maus” Einar replied tersely, “Vikings are from Norway, I’m Estonian.”

The thing was that Einar did look the part of a Viking raider from a thousand years earlier. It was just one more way in which he was the odd man out in this crew. Christian, Maus, and Ralf were from the Brandenburg suburbs outside of Berlin. Einar said he was from a place called Kuressaare in Estonia, which Christian had been unable to find on a map.

They sat in silence for a while more as the traffic inched ahead. Then the music cut out mid-song as it was preempted by special bulletin. Ralf, suddenly awake, said that the same transmission was coming over the Command network too.

“Today I speak to you not just as your Emperor…” Christian heard a voice that had been familiar to him since early childhood.

“It’s old Lutz” Maus said, though he didn’t need to.

“Shut up Maus” Einar said, saving Christian the trouble.

“…fellow citizen of a Federation that I have worked to make more inclusive. Because unlike what narrow minded chauvinists might tell you, time has proven that we are strong due to our differences, not despite them.” Louis said, “So it is with a heavy heart that I am forced to once again send our sons and daughters unto the breach to defend our values by committing to this police action in the Kingdom of Poland. It is something that I had sought to avoid, and to my eternal regret, the world recently stood by and watched as nations were overrun. Their populations put to the sword held by the blood-soaked hands of the nationalistic fool who thinks that is how you win the peace. We stood by, and now we pay the price by finding that it is about to happen on our very own doorstep. I say, speaking in the name of decency and humanity, no more!”

The Emperor was not exactly known for being the greatest Orator in the world, everyone knew that. From Christian’s perspective though, the old man was clearly firing on all cylinders with this radio address.



Fort Drum, New York

It had been a great relief that the Ecuadorians had not blundered into a war before Richie’s Team had rotated out. Once back in New York, he had time to focus on other things. Like the promised visit by Lucia.

Lucia had never been on an airplane before she had gotten on one that took her from LA to Idlewild. She had watched with amazement as Upstate New York rolled by on their way to Fort Drum where Ritchie had arranged accommodations for her. He had given her the grand tour of the base before the moment that held the greatest amount of trepidation for him, introducing her to the Team.

That occurred on a hot afternoon after they had packed it in early for the day. The Team along with girlfriends and other assorted guests were having pot-luck barbecue on the bank of the Black River which made up one of the Fort’s boundaries. As soon as Lucia got out of the car, Ritchie could see that all eyes were on her, mostly out of curiosity as he introduced her.

“I’ve heard a lot about all of you” Lucia said with a smile. “Nice to have faces to go with the names.”

“And the Runt has been talking about you all the time” Mullins said in reply.

“Runt?” Lucia asked, amused by the nickname that Casey and Parker had stuck him with years earlier.

“It’s an old joke Miss Cruz” Kravitz said as he handed her a can of coke.

Huck was fiddling with a backpack radio, ignoring everyone else. Then strange voices started coming from the speaker, in German. Ritchie, along with all the other men paused.

“What is that?” Lucia asked.

“The German tactical radio network” Ritchie replied, “We can pick it up on shortwave because those signals are typically unencrypted.”

“There doesn’t seem to be a battle yet, just the Army and Marines seem to be on the move” Huck said.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Eight Hundred Sixty-Two



27th July 1968

Thorn, Prussian-Polish Frontier



It was two hundred and fifty kilometers from Bromberg to Warsaw and a large portion of the Polish Army was intent upon keeping Tilo from traveling that distance. Recon flights had revealed hastily dug trenches on either side of Vistula River, the blocking the route he intended to take, in theory. Clearly, they had no idea who they were actually dealing with. This was because Tilo was a Marine Officer who had spent a good deal of time aboard various ships during his long career as well as teaching the next generation of Naval Officers. The truth was that geography had given him a rather large hole in the enemy lines that was not immediately obvious to an Officer who had spent his entire career on land, namely the Vistula itself. The river also also ran straight into Warsaw, which would markedly simplify his logistics. The Flak-Lighter he was using as his command ship reflected that.

“This is just like the old days Kid” Reier said, “Us on a boat, getting ready to pull a fast one on the other side.”

“You didn’t always have the best luck during landings Reier” Tilo replied, “You recall how you got that wound badge. It took the surgeons a considerable amount of time to dig all that shrapnel out of your ass after you got hit at Ninh Bình?”

Reier gave Tilo a look that suggested that he wasn’t thrilled that anyone remembered that incident. Then he heard some snickering among the Junior Enlisted who must have overheard.

“You little shitheads think that’s funny?” Reier demanded as the Marines scattered. It was already too late for whatever revenge he might have tried to take on them. Word about how great and invincible Oberstaber Reier had gotten himself shot in the butt by the Japanese would be on everyone’s lips within a few hours.

Reier was right, this was just like the old days.

Tilo looked up the river with a smile. This was actually going to fun.



Balice, Provisional Galicia

After an entire day on the road, they had made shockingly little progress. What might have taken only a few hours normally had taken all day. Then this morning they had finally managed to break free of the traffic jam and had ranged ahead of the 4th Division down Autobahn 4, which happened to be their job. Now on the outskirts of Krakow something that no one could have planned for had occurred.

“They even have a band” Christian heard Einar say in disbelief behind him as the Iltis was mobbed by a crowd of people celebrating the arrival of the Heer in Galicia.

Stepping out of the front passenger seat, Christian stood before the gathered boisterous crowd. “The entire Second Army is behind us!” Christian tried to yell over the tumult. “We need you to let us through!”

And he was roundly ignored.

Christian could only imagine what would happen if Maus and Einar would do when they got impatient. Something stupid if he had to guess. Looking back up the Autobahn, Christian saw a pair of eight wheeled armored cars coming around the bend.

“General von Mischner is coming!” Christian called out, pointing at the 8-rads. They were just a different part of 7th Recon, but to the people here they looked impressive. The Cheering grew in pitch and all attention shifted to the oncoming vehicles. The Iltis was an afterthought for the crowd as Christian got back into his seat and Maus put it into gear.

“That really was dirty pool, what you did to those Specials” Maus said once they got rolling towards Krakow. Maus was referring to the original name given to the 8-rads, they had been called Special Vehicles, or Specials. That term had stuck in the slang that was used to describe them.

“I didn’t want to be stuck back there all day” Christian replied.

Minutes later, Krakow came into view and Maus took the turnoff to go into the city. The Provisional Capital had been visited many times by the Polish Air Force over the prior weeks and there was visible damage to most of the structures.

Christian had heard that in the first hours of the conflict, the Poles had attempted to snatch the General who commanded the Galician Forces. Apparently General Bauer had anticipated that and had rigged his headquarters to explode if anyone was stupid or crazy enough to try it. The Polish version of the KSK had an extremely bad night because they had.

Rounding a corner, they started to see more and more soldiers. The Galicians were wearing the odd homemade camouflage and others were wearing the water-splinter pattern Christian was familiar with. When they reached the old Market Square in Oldtown, Christian saw Panzers. Dozens of them parked in the Square. The same place where the massacre had occurred two years earlier, he figured that there was some justice in all of this because he recognized the markings on the Leopards.

“Get Command up and tell them that the Bohemians beat us into Krakow Ralf” Christian said over his shoulder, “And ask them for further instructions.”

When Maus parked the Iltis, they immediately had an official start yelling at them about their ugly vehicle. Compared to how squared away the Bohemian Leopards and APCs were, that was no surprise. The Iltis looked like a garbage scow by comparison.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Eight Hundred Sixty-Three



1st August 1968

Near Miechów, Poland

The order had come to fall back on Miechów, then dig in and hold fast. After days of attempting to advance on Krakow, they had finally started to make progress when things had changed. There had been rumors flying around in the days since, that the Germans had entered the war and that Warsaw was a smoking pile of rubble. The latter seemed unlikely because the orders had to be coming from somewhere, the former on the other hand was all too plausible. That was how he found himself watching a stretch of narrow road from his foxhole when he heard the sound of vehicles approaching, the turbocharged diesel engines sounding strange to his ears. It took Bogdan a second to realize what he was looking at, the open-top vehicles were painted a grey and brown camouflage pattern, the men inside them advanced to a bend in the road and were peering cautiously ahead. An Iltis looked nothing like the Volkswagen Föhn hatchbacks it was supposedly based upon. The man sitting in the passenger seat of the following Iltis was wearing a helmet that had a cloth cover with a hole torn on the left side. For some reason Bogdan thought that was a bit odd.

“Nobody moves” Bogdan heard the Lieutenant say. “Those are scouts for the Panzer Corps.”

Bogdan felt his mouth go dry. He had only seen them in movies, the Cavalry Units that ranged ahead of the main advance. The instant they made contact, they would call down artillery to cover their retreat, then the Panzers and Dragoon Infantry would move up… Then Bogdan would have very few good choices left if that happened. The best thing they could do now was to delay long enough to…

Bogdan cursed to himself when he saw a stream of tracers leap out from his lines, mostly flying over the lead Iltis. The response was instant, and Bogdan was surprised by the volume of fire from such small vehicles. 8mm and 6.5mm bullets raked across the line of foxholes and a grenade hit the ground just a few meters to his right.

----------------------------------------------------------------

As soon as the Iltis in front of them came under fire, Maus slammed the vehicle into reverse and started backing down the road as fast as they could go. The other three men in the Iltis opened fire with everything they had. Then they were back around the bend.

“Get artillery on the enemy position!” Christian yelled at Rolf who sheepishly complied, as if he anything to be embarrassed about. The lead Iltis had smoke coming out from under the bonnet and the two of the men who had been aboard staggered back towards them. Hardly thinking, Christian ran to the lead Iltis. He grabbed the fire extinguisher out of the back and used it to put out the fire in the engine compartment before it consumed the whole vehicle. It was then that he saw the state of Feldwebel Wolter and Gérald, the driver. Gérald’s flak vest and the bulk of the Iltis’ engine had saved him, barely. The hole through Wolter’s head suggested that he had not been so lucky. For months, the Hauptmann had been trying to break Wolter of the habit of being too bold in the face of expected enemy fire. It clearly hadn’t taken. Christian had thought that driving around the bend in the road was stupid but had followed along because Wolter had been in charge.

The woosh and crash of artillery shells landing a few hundred meters away reminded Christian that he had done his part here. As absurd as that seemed.



Hohenzollern Castle

Marie was upset about how this summer was going.

Marie wished that the letter from her mother had said more. It had basically been the typical sort expected from when she was out in the field. Telling as much as possible without saying much at all. She had told Marie that she loved her, and she regrated missing out on what was an important moment for her. It contained nothing about where she was, what she was doing, or why she had been called away. It all added to the how much she was starting to dislike her life.

Marie had wanted this summer to be as fun as the year before, but then everything had gone sideways. The first thing that had gone wrong was that she had been given her own room by the adults and put in a position of responsibility. That had kept her separate from everyone else. Then there had been that thing that had happened next, which had been awful. It had taken Kiki only a few minutes to figure out what was really going on and it had been completely mortifying. Marie had known Kiki her entire life and wished she could be more like her. Kiki didn’t imagine going out and having adventures, instead she went out and had them.

Kiki had taken a motor barge all the way up the Elbe and Vltava Rivers to Prague. Gone to Korea to help people, twice, and had received the Pour le Mérite without firing a shot in anger. Rushed in as part of the search and rescue operation in the East Station Bombing and had later stood up to the terrorist mastermind who had done it. Basically, Kiki was everything that Marie wished she could be.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Eight Hundred Sixty-Four



3rd August 1968

Kreuzberg, Berlin

Of all the places that his father would be. The Philharmonie Concert Hall used by Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra for the last several decades was not the one that Freddy would have expected. He questioned exactly how appropriate it was during the present situation.

The Orchestra itself was conducting rehearsal and Louis Ferdinand was watching in the otherwise empty auditorium. For decades he burnished his reputation as a patron of the arts and in recent years the Classical Music scene in Berlin had enjoyed a renaissance in Berlin, bucking the notion that the music was stodgy and outmoded as it was frequently seen in other parts of the world. It was a triumph for both Orchestra and their patrons.

“Why are you here?” Freddy asked as he sat down in the seat next to his father. “Is this the best use of your time?”

“Life doesn’t stop Friedrich” Louis replied, “If you spend all of your time focusing on the latest crisis you will eventually destroy yourself. You see, there will always be another crisis and if there are any new developments I will be informed.”

Freddy sat there for a minute, he understood what his father was saying. Still, appearances had to be maintained.

“Pay attention to this next part” Louis said, “I am particularly pleased with how it turned out.”

After a pause, the strings started playing a simple melody. Somehow, it seemed full of a kind of yearning. A minute later, the brass started playing the counterpoint, which was insistent and boisterous. Oddly, they were both the same tune, point and counterpoint, intertwined with each other.

“What is this?” Freddy asked, “I’m not familiar with it.”

“A gift for your sisters, this is the introduction” Louis replied, “My hope is that it will be ready by Christmas.”

At that moment, there was a pause and the woodwinds began. The piece was hesitant, halting in its progression. Timid, until it found its footing when it advanced forward in a wild rush. Then the violins began a jaunty melody, playful and somewhat discordant with the woodwinds.

“You wrote this?” Freddy asked.

“With the help of the Meisterin” Louis replied, nodding toward the front of the Orchestra.

Looking down at the Conductor’s podium, Freddy saw that Sarah von Schmidt was conducting. He knew who she was, a former child prodigy who was a longstanding pianist and violinist in the Berlin Philharmonic and the Django Reinhardt Orchestra. Freddy knew that his father wrote music, but not at this level. And what were his father’s muses going to make of this gift.



Wodzislaw, Poland

Bogdan had discovered that his hands wouldn’t stop shaking. The retreat from Miechów had been a nightmare and that had come after he had been subjected to protracted shelling. The German scouts had retreated and predictably 15cm shells had started landing on his position. Bogdan was left clawing at the ground at the bottom of his foxhole trying to dig deeper. He had been able to hear the sound of the howitzers firing in the distance seconds before the next wave of shells arrived.

Then it had stopped, and the air had been filled with the sound of revving engines and the ground shook as Panzers and APCs had advanced up the road. The Kaptian had ordered them to retreat and the Company had lost all cohesion as they had fled north.

It was afterwards when things had become surreal. As what was left of the Company staggered into Wodzislaw, they had found fresh troops had staring at them agog. Then Bogdan had found himself promoted to Plutonowy because he had not lost his rifle during the retreat. It was as if the whole world had gone insane.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Looking through his binoculars from his hidden vantage point, Christian saw that the Poles had dug trenches and strung barbed wire. It all seemed like something from another era. He had no doubt that there were also landmines, anti-tank guns, and anything else that could be thrown at the 4th Panzer Division. The Hauptmann had told him that the 7th Recon job wasn’t to act as shock troops, it was to find the enemy and gather intelligence. Well, he had found the enemy. It took Christian a considerable amount of time to get an estimate of what sort of numbers he was looking at.

Walking back to the Iltis, Christian started telling Rolf what he was to relay back to Command. He took off his helmet as they started the drive back to headquarters and looked at it sourly. The Hauptmann had told him to replace the cover when the rip in it had been noticed. Christian had tried to fix it several times but every time he had stitched it, it had ripped again. The new helmet cover wasn’t bleached the sun and elements yet, the sort of thing that caused people to look at him as if he were fresh fish.

“I hate this stupid thing” Christian said aloud, “People think I am a fucking new guy.”

“The EK2 you’re getting will help with that” Einar said.

That was something that Christian was still trying to figure out. Before he had been evacuated to the field hospital, Gérald had told the Hauptmann that Christian had saved his life when he had put out fire in the Iltis. The way Gérald had described the incident, it sounded as if the whole thing had been engulfed in flames. It all seemed a bit silly.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Eight Hundred Sixty-Five



5th August 1968

Near Kielce, Poland

The men on the self-propelled guns and the ammo carriers waved as the Iltis vehicles that Christian and his Squad were riding in raced by. A Panther hull with an open superstructure welded to it, the barrel of a 15cm “Evergreen” howitzer projected over the sloped front of the hull and several meters beyond. He recognized them as belonging to the 76th Motorized Artillery Brigade, the same outfit that had provided cover for when they had retreated from Miechów a few days earlier.

As it had turned out, the Bohemians had bypassed Wodzislaw and had taken the Polish city of Jedrzejow. Taking out the main logistics hub on the Polish Army in southern Poland in the process. The 2nd Army had followed suit, swinging east of Wodzislaw, and racing north. The defenders of Wodzislaw had woken up the day before to discover that their lines had been rendered redundant and they were surrounded, deep in unfriendly territory. In a radio address, General von Mischner had congratulated the men of the 2nd Army Corps and their Bohemian Allies for turning the town into a POW camp. The 2nd Army’s spiritual father, General von Wolvogle, Old Wolf himself, would be proud of how they had torn a page out of his book before remembering that they still needed to return it to the library. Then Hans von Mischner had asked a question that had caused the 2nd to redouble their efforts. In the north, the Marine Infantry had been battling their way towards Warsaw and were closer to the capital. Did the 2nd Army want those scumbags to get there first? Everyone knew what the answer was. A very loud and enthusiastic NO!

The day before, Christian found himself made acting Squad Leader, a new Iltis and two replacements being assigned to it. The Hauptmann had told him to not stupidly get his head blown off like his predecessor had. Then they had taken the vanguard, scouting ahead of the 4th Division until it had gotten too dark to see and using headlights was asking to get plastered. By the next morning they had discovered that most of their Division had pressed froward through the night and had passed them. The Hauptmann had been pissed to learn where they had ended up once they got him on the radio. Christian had made the mistake of pointing out that if they had a Sperber set or two they could have stayed out front and had gotten his ass chewed for it. Luckily, he wasn’t there in person, so Christian figured that if he could avoid going back to headquarters for the next day or so, the Hauptmann would have far larger problems to contend with.

Rounding a bend in the road, Christian saw dozens of SPz-4 APCs and lories full of supplies. That meant that they had caught up with the 8th Battalion, the main infantry component of the 4th Division.



Wodzislaw, Poland

A couple days before, Bogdan would have given anything to get out of the war. Now though, he had learned that his involvement was over. The entire day prior they had heard rumors, that they were surrounded and that being relieved was extremely unlikely. Today, they had watched as Germans, mostly medics and other support personnel had crossed the lines to ask their Commanders if they had wounded who needed to be evacuated and to learn just what needs those trapped inside the town had. Them officials from the International Red Cross had shown up and had started taking names. That was when it had struck Bogdan that he was a prisoner of war and it had felt like a punch to the gut.

It was then at what Bogdan knew was his lowest moment when a man he had never seen before walked down the lines. There were a number of men with him and the Kapitan was ordered to gather the men. When he opened his mouth, Bogdan discovered that he sounded like someone from Warsaw, educated though.

“The only question you men need to ask yourselves is who the bigger vultures are, those in Warsaw or in Berlin” He said.

“But you are one of them” Bogdan found himself saying.

“Hardly” The man said, “I am the one who knows a better way then this bullshit.”

He made a gesture towards pointless trenches and Bogdan realized that it was impossible to argue that point.



Mitte, Berlin

Nancy found herself juggling a great deal as she tried to maintain the public relations of the House of Hohenzollern. The Government and the Military had their own people for this sort of thing and that made her job much easier. The problem that Nancy found herself contending with was the various theories that bloody-minded people with entirely too much time on their hands came up with. This whole mess in Poland had given them a plethora of material to work with and Nancy found herself fending off questions from serious journalists who always wondered if there was anything to those theories.

Into this was Tilo’s departure to Poland, meaning that the journalists had questions for Nancy herself. That added an uncomfortable dimension to the whole thing. Sabastian was behaving himself for once. With the prospect of being sent to boarding school looming, it had finally gotten through to him that his actions had consequences. Anna and Gretchen had watched all of this wide eyed. Gretchen was still too young to understand what was happening and Anna had accused Nancy of sending her big brother away just to be mean or something.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Eight Hundred Sixty-Six



6th August 1968

Płock, Poland

The Poles had dropped the bridges over the Vistula River at Płock in order to block his advance. Over the prior days Tilo had steadily pushed them back. Whenever they took a stand, he used the river either split the Polish Army them or get them to expose a flank to the armored and infantry units on land. That was until he had reached the city where whoever was in charge here figured out an effective way to counter him.

Tilo grew tired of yelling at this or that flunky back in Danzig or Kiel whenever he could get them on the phone to get engineering assets up the river. With the Grand Admiral was ducking his calls, he had discovered that it was the Pioneers who were interested in helping him clear the river. He just wished that they would hurry up and get here because he was losing time while he was stuck here. Tilo had gotten word that Army Group South had taken Radom and was headed for Grójec. The fast advance making it difficult for the Polish forces to set up a proper defense. General von Mischner had said to him that while he couldn’t take sides in the race to get to Warsaw, his old outfit in the 2nd Army was leading the way in the South. When Tilo had told Reier about that conversation, Reier had told him that Group South would win the race over their dead bodies. Tilo had told Reier that while he had the right attitude, a better choice of words was in order.

As Tilo hung up the phone, he could hear the sound of helicopters approaching and one of them set down on the pad of his command barge. Several men jumped out before the helicopter lifted off, Tilo recognized them as Officers of the Pioneer Corps. While it was about time they showed up, he knew who the Oberstlieutenant who seemed to be in charge them was and was rather surprised by his presence.

“I understand that you need a bit of help to get up this river General” The Oberstlieutenant said.

“And exactly what should I call you?” Tilo asked.

“I tend to go by the name Fischer under circumstances like these” Fischer replied.

“And just why are you here?”

Fischer smiled. “My father is focused on this crisis and the next” He said, “I got to figuring that I ought to be doing something in the meantime.”



Hohenzollern Castle

The arrival of Zella to the castle was a welcome change. Zella had been spending her holiday at a spa town in the Bavarian Alps and had decided that Kiki needed rescuing from herself. Just that was not how Kiki would have termed it.

Kiki had been getting stir crazy as she had watched the news and had felt completely useless. It seemed that her father had thought of everything when it came to keeping her here in the Hohenzollern Province for the summer. She also had the girls under her care to contend with, Marie had told all of them about how she was some sort of heroine complete with wild stories about the things that Kiki had done. Nella and Nan were more than happy to back up those stories with several more of their own. It all created a scene that Kiki found embarrassing. She had done most of those things in an effort to prove that she hadn’t just been handed everything in life because of her name. Not only had that not worked with the people who were inclined to think of her that way, it all seemed terribly misguided in hindsight. She had taken too many risks, had worked herself so threadbare, and had paid a heavy price for all of that. Her father telling her that she had done enough and everyone around her echoing his words was concrete proof of that. Still, she watched the news and saw refugees, people displaced by the fighting in Poland, streaming into Posen and Silesia by the thousands. That she had not involved herself and the luxury of security in the castle seemed wrong.

“Can you just be selfish for once?” Zella asked, looking out the open windows of the tower room that Kiki had used as her chambers since she had come here as a child. She had never liked the master’s chambers and had happily rented them out to whatever businessman was stupid enough to pay a premium to do so. So far, none of them had complained about staying in the drafty, moth infested collection of rooms or had thought to ask why Kiki wasn’t interested in them.

“It is not a question of being selfish” Kiki replied, “I feel like I am useless being stuck here.”

“You’ve never been to Poland” Zella said, “I have, and I can tell you that the humanitarian problems that exist will still be there next year. The other thing you need to consider is that you are not considering is just how the people you want to help will react to the presence of the Princess Royal of Germany. I know how you feel about having to use that gun of yours again.”

“That is insane” Kiki replied.

“Sanity left the building two years ago when the shooting started in Krakow” Zella said, “Everything happening now is just an effort to unbreak the glass.”

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Eight Hundred Sixty-Seven



7th August 1968

Mitte, Berlin

By now Louis Ferdinand figured he ought to be used to the feeling by now, of wanting to be proud of his children and wanting to strangle them at the same time. Friedrich had decided that the Reserve Pioneer Battalion he commanded being at loose ends made it perfect for going into the field as soon as the proper mission presented itself and one had. As it had turned out that Friedrich had suborned his security detail, convincing them that he had an important role to play in Poland and that he actually needed their help if he was going to be successful in playing it. This was unfortunately in keeping with the tendency of the royal children to either ditch their details in a variety of clever ways or in the most extreme case, Kristina telling them to leave her alone and being shockingly persistent.

The obvious issue was Louis’ brother Wilhelm, who had died in Spain. Since then, Louis had discovered that forbidding his children from putting themselves into the dangerous situations was often a losing battle. All four of his oldest had opted for military service of one sort or another. Friedrich had joined the Pioneers, an unorthodox choice that had taken him to Vietnam where he had done great things, during peacetime though. Michael, Kristina, and Louis Junior had all served in Korea. Michael had led a Panzer Company and had distinguished himself, gaining credibility with the Bohemian Army in the process. Louis Junior had volunteered to pilot a landing craft, bringing several Platoons of Marine Infantry ashore. Both of their experiences paled in comparison to that of Kristina, who had been in the FSR, the Jager Corps of the Medical Service as much of a contradiction as that seemed to be. She had done more than anyone should have, and Louis had found himself with the unenviable task of keeping his daughter from further destroying herself in the years since. Friedrich had apparently wanted to prove himself in the same manner his younger siblings had.

The first thought that Louis had when he learned where Friedrich had gone was to get Dietrich “Tilo” Schultz to load him onto the first available transport back to Berlin. The Marine General had a slightly different idea of what to do though. Tilo had Friedrich aboard the barge he was using as a mobile command post far from any actual fighting, with a dozen men in addition to his security detail who didn’t care who he was to make sure it stayed that way.



Płock, Poland

The barges were moving up the river again as the sections of bridge that had been blocking traffic had been removed. Freddy had given the orders to have it done only to have General Schultz assign him to his staff. It was expected that the next opportunity for that sort of sabotage would happen in Mazowiecki. It was here that Freddy had been introduced to Marine Feldwebel Knut Leichenberg, who was possibly the most appropriately named man alive. He had said to Freddy that he had already shot so many Poles in this campaign that he had earned a Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross and that he was now Freddy’s bodyguard so that someone else could have a turn. He also said that he thought it was about time that Freddy had shown that he had the balls to do what he had.

Earning the respect of a complete psychopath like Leichenberg was not what he’d had in mind when he had left Berlin. There was also the looming prospect of having to face his father, or worse Suga, in the near future and having to explain his actions.



Near Grójec, Poland

The Squad was advancing through the lines of fruit trees that provided some cover until they reached the creek whose banks were overgrown. For the previous minutes, they had been picking their way forward on foot after hearing the sounds of enemy armor to the north. The drivers had stayed back with the vehicles which were parked behind some hedges back at the other end of the orchard that made them impossible to see from the road. The rest of them had gone to investigate. Einar and Rolf were not thrilled about how heavy the equipment they were carrying was. The radio set, the Panzerfaust 400, and the spare rockets in particular. Christian didn’t want to hear it though. If either a target of opportunity presented itself, or else they found themselves under attack by enemy armor, he wanted to have it with him.

Looking across the open field, in addition to the Panzerfaust, the Squad had two Vz.60’s in addition to their own G44 rifles. Everyone started to set up a defensive position as Christian started to try to get a read on the enemy positions across the fallow field. He was having Rolf relay the information back to headquarters when two Polish soldiers came walking down the opposite bank. They paused when they saw Christian’s Squad, as if they were unsure as to what they were looking at. If only they had done the smart thing and had run back the way they had come, things would have turned out better for everyone. Unfortunately, people generally fail to do the smart thing when surprised.

For Christian, he saw the potential disaster in the making as one of the soldiers unslung his rifle and tried to raise it. Only to get himself and his friend cut down by a burst of fire from one of the Vz.60s. Everyone would have heard that for kilometers around.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Eight Hundred Sixty-Eight



8th August 1968

Near Grójec, Poland

All Kurt wanted to do was get into a Panzer and go into the battle himself. Instead, he was calling the shots from his command post a few kilometers back. Elements of the 4th Division had made contact with the Southern Wing of the Polish Army and before anyone had realized what was going on, a massive set piece battle had developed. The Bohemian Panzer Corps had smashed into the Polish flank near the village of Drwalew and was making progress. Hans von Mischner had said that 2nd and 3rd Army Corps were advancing on either side of Grójec. He had also mentioned that the 6th Army Corps had secured Łódź, effectively ending all organized resistance in western Poland.

What Hans had not mentioned was just what his crazy sister was up to. According to Kurt’s sources in the Luftwaffe. The entire KSK and supporting forces in the Fallschirmjäger had packed up and decamped to parts unknown a couple days earlier. He figured that whatever they were up to, it was probably about to inflict a lot of pain upon the other side at any second.

Looking past the situation board, Kurt saw Olli looking a bit distressed as he had since he had “surrendered” to the 2nd Army Corps and Hans von Mischner. He had come with some of his men who had volunteered to come with the Bohemians into Warsaw to see this campaign to the end. Hans said that it was a good idea to keep an eye on Olli until they figured out what to do with him. Olli had insisted that he remained his final rank in the Heer, that of a Major, and had created several problems. Not the least of which was the detail that he had been working as an agent of the German Government when the command of Galician Freikorps had been thrust upon him.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Christian had no idea how long it had been. His clothes felt like they were full of grime and it seemed like he couldn’t get the taste of cordite out of his mouth. Choking smoke filled the air, turning the sun red.

His Squad had inadvertently triggered this battle when they had opened fire on the two Poles who had stumbled across their position. It had been right after that, when Rolf had called down an artillery strike dangerously close to their position as they had run for their vehicles. The sound of 13mm bullets hitting the tree branches of the orchard as they had run through it had made an impression.

Afterwards, they had found themselves probing for enemy positions and directing artillery as the 4th Division had ploughed into the Polish Army. The 7th Recon had frequently found themselves on the line as regular infantry, being rushed around to wherever they needed.

Christian had become so inured to the Vz.60s and MG42/48s as they were at the fired at the advancing Poles, it came as a surprise when the Panzerfaust 400 was fired by Einar at a SPz-2. The fin stabilized rocket hit the track of the APC, causing it to grind to a halt. Additional anti-tank fire started hitting the APC until the crew and passenger started bailing out of the smoldering vehicle. Christian saw as one of them spun around when the man was hit.

After a lull in the fire, Christian saw movement in the field out front. He shouldered his rifle and fired a burst at it. The Polish infiltrators realizing that the distraction provided by the APC had failed attempted to take the Squad’s position in a rush and he fired a grenade from the under-barrel launcher right into them. Seconds later as he leveraged the breach open and fed a fresh 40mm grenade into it. He saw how the Poles were fleeing. An eternity ago, what must have been a few days earlier, Christian had heard that the Polish Army lacked the numbers to hold out for long. Someone tell them that, Christian thought to himself.



Fort Drum, New York

The radio traffic from the battle that they had been picking up on shortwave was continuing. When some of the others had cheered on one of the voices that they had been able to follow, which loosely translated to Recon Squadron Gold 43, Parker had reminded them that it wasn’t a Football game in Buffalo that they were listening to. From the sounds of it, it sounded like it had grown huge. Word had gotten out that they had been listening in on those radio transmissions and a pair of ghouls from either “No Such Agency” or Army Intelligence depending on who you asked, had turned up and was interested in knowing exactly what the 1st SFG was up to in regards to Signals Intelligence. Ritchie wondered why they cared. They had to be listening in on the same transmissions with far better equipment. Weren’t they?

Ritchie couldn’t have cared less because to him it was all a distraction. He had taken Lucia to the airport the previous afternoon so that she could go back to Los Angeles. Upon his return he had been accosted by Kravitz and Huck. They had made many observations over the prior week that they were more than happy to share with Ritchie. Among other things, they told him that they thought that Lucia was a keeper and that he would be an idiot if he lost contact with her.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Eight Hundred Sixty-Nine



10th August 1968

Opacz Mała, Poland

They had been ordered to fall in due to General von Mischner conducting an inspection tour ahead of the final push to get into Warsaw. To the disappointment of the Squad, they had been ordered to stand down earlier that day and had watched on the outskirts of Warsaw as the rest of the Division prepared for the final push. It came as a bit of a surprise when Christian had been ordered up front. At first, he figured that he must have done something wrong. Then the General’s Aide started reading aloud the dispatches that were being sent to the Reichstag that related to Christian and the rest of his Squad.

It was about how he, Unteroffizer Christian Weise as acting leader of Infanterie-Truppe Nr. 41, 7. Aufklärungsbataillon, had led the advance of the 4th Panzer Division of the 2nd Army Corps, pushing ahead through nearly four hundred kilometers of hostile territory. This included the destruction of half dozen armored vehicles of various types and emerging victorious after engaging in frequent clashes with the Polish Army. This had resulted in Christian getting the simultaneous awarding of the Iron Cross, 1st, and 2nd Class as well as the meritorious promotion to Unteroffizer. Because he was being recognized individually in the dispatch, Christian was to be awarded the prestigious Federal Merit Cross in gold.

As Christian heard the polite applause, he had thought that they had gotten a detail wrong at first, that he was Gefreiter. Then he realized what meritorious promotion meant, that he had been given an advancement that would have otherwise taken him years to achieve. The rest of the Squad had been given various awards that reflected the roles that they had played. Still, despite all of that Christian was still a bit annoyed that his Squad had not led the way into Warsaw itself, it was almost as if someone was already doing that before they had arrived.



Warsaw, Poland

Mieczysławm Moczar was already in a foul mood. Over the prior weeks, anything that could possibly go wrong had and he got to be the Premiere who oversaw this disaster. The Government of National Unity that had formed after the death of Stanisław Mikołajczyk had turned into a farce as it seemed like every time they got word from the front there was a bit less of a nation to keep united. None of this was helped by the Defense Minister, Wojciech Jaruzelski, who was filling everyone’s ears with happy talk about how the Army was holding the line against the Germans, while continually trying to set Moczar up to take the fall every time the Army was pushed back. Now, the German Army along with their Bohemian Allies were at the gates of Warsaw itself and the Government basically acting like if this crisis called for urgent debate. Moczar would have considered machinegunning the whole lot of them if he didn’t know what was in store for them. Word was that the General commanding the German forces had put Karol Wojtyla in charge of managing the occupation. As Interior Minister, Moczar had been warned about certain people and the retired General was high on that list. Wojtyla was said to be little more than criminal who had spent his career in the German Army milking whatever position he had for everything it was worth. Moczar knew that the Wojtyla would corrupt the Parliament and anyone who refused to go along with it was likely to be liquidated.

It was comedy of the blackest sort and Moczar had no intention of sticking around to see the punchline. What was left of the Polish Army had been ordered to retreat east to the Belarusian Frontier near where it met the border with Ukraine. Once there they would come up with a plan for retaking the country. Moczar had already executed his plan to have most the State Treasury moved to a safe location months earlier. The documents in his briefcase spelled that out and would ensure that Poland still had a future when they finally managed to chase the Germans out. Walking towards the door of his office, Moczar with his briefcase in one hand and his suitcase in the other. He was annoyed that his hands were full, and he had to put down the suitcase. Normally, his personal secretary would have opened the door, but he had seen less and less of her over the prior weeks. That was why it had come as no surprise when no one had responded when he had called out on the intercom.

When Moczar got the door open, he looked down to grab his suitcase only to look up to find himself staring down the barrels of a dozen K44k carbine rifles. A part of his mind was amazed that he was able to recognize that little detail. That meant that these were paratroopers who had somehow entered the city without alerting its defenders and had taken over this building with was supposed to be the most heavily defended in Poland.

“Exactly where do you think you are going Minister?” A woman with red hair asked and the instant Moczar saw her he knew that he was completely screwed. “We have a great deal to discuss before you are formally arrested.”

She grabbed the briefcase out of his hand before he even thought to resist. It was locked but it only took her a few seconds to pry it open.

“I don’t know what you are playing at Lady Katherine but…” Moczar started to say only one of her paratroops jam the butt of his carbine into his back.

“There will be a reckoning with the Swiss one day” Katherine said looking at the documents. “If their banking privacy laws were not so useful it would have already happened. Them helping you loot the treasury of your own country…”

“I was doing nothing of the sort” Moczar stared to protest only to see that she didn’t care.

“That isn’t what this looks like” Katherine said, “Your own countrymen will tear you to pieces.”

Moczar was feeling the edges of panic starting to creep in.

“Why are you doing this?” He demanded.

“Because of what your nonsense has already cost me” Katherine said with anger dripping from every word.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Eight Hundred Seventy



12th August 1968

Warsaw, Poland

Just like that, the war, or whatever you wanted to call it, in Poland was over.

No one had any illusions about how it had done nothing to solve the problems that had precipitated it. That was why Tilo’s barge remained under heavy guard once it was moored in the city. There was a lot of grumbling among the ranks about how they had been cheated of a win in the race to take Warsaw. Having blasted their way into Warsaw only to find that the Fallschirmjäger had taken it in a walk. Why wouldn’t they? All eyes would have been on the Marines coming from the north. Tilo might have pointed out the large battle that had taken place south of the city suggested that the Poles themselves had considered Army Group South to be the greater threat. As it was, Group North and Group South had both entered the city at about the same time and learning that it had been the Tabbies who had “won” the race had been mutually dismaying.

The larger effects of this campaign had yet to be seen. It seemed obvious that the solution was to hold plebiscites in Southern Poland. The people of the regions of Galicia and Ruthenia being given the choice of what they wanted in the future. The rub was that it wouldn’t just encompass those two regions. There were substantial Ruthenian minorities in Slovakia and Bohemia as well. There were already calls for the plebiscite to be extended into portions of Northern Slovakia, much to the chagrin of the Slovakian Government who had been early supporters of the Galician Freikorps.

The glow of victory had extended to Governing coalition in Berlin. The timing was good for them because there was an election planned for early next month. It would be long over by the time the inevitable complications of occupying Poland presented themselves. Of course, Tilo figured that the vast majority of the people of the German Empire would go back to ignoring Poland for another couple decades or so when the next crisis presented itself.

Tilo himself was having a good day. He had gotten Nancy and the girls on the phone. It had been nice to talk to them and learn how they were all well. Sabastian was at the Richthofen Estate in Silesia, so he was unavailable. Tilo figured that he was having a fun summer out in the woods with Nikolaus. He hoped that it would be enjoyable because he understood that the Prussian Academy in Wahlstatt would be a bucket of cold water for someone as freewheeling as Sabastian tended to be. Nancy had described the application process and that had been jarring for Tilo. The Academy had taken one look at Tilo’s service record and said that the son of a General with a PLM was automatically granted entry. Tilo was reminded of how he had been opposed to the very notion of intergenerational privilege when he had been younger before conscription and an unplanned trip to the Far East had forever changed his life. How he had despised how those already at the top tended to stay there. Now, he was seeing first-hand how the system benefited people like him, no matter how he had gotten where he was.



Hechingen

There were a few things weighing on Marie Alexandra as she swam to the edge of the deep end of the pool and climbed out.

Going with the other girls to the public swimming pool in Hechingen was something that Marie had thought nothing about when she had done it the year before. Suddenly, it had become a huge issue for her. The thought of being looked at, filled her with dread. Kiki had listened to her and told her that it was an adjustment that all women went through and of all things told her to watch her friend Zella the next time they went into Hechingen if she wanted to learn a few things. She had not understood what that had meant.

Earlier today, Marie had watched as Kiki and Zella had left the dressing rooms in swim attire that was appropriate for the location. Still, it seemed that every single male eye in the place had been drawn to Zella who reveled in the attention. There were stories about Kiki’s dear friend, that she had something of a bad reputation. Marie had mentioned that to Kiki and Kiki had said that she shouldn’t believe everything she heard. Zella had apparently been leading a largely chaste existence for the last few years because she had a bad experience when she was younger. Kiki said that Zella being the sort who men would drool over even if she wore a burlap sack didn’t help matters. Marie was left with the obvious question. What did she mean by bad experience?

Kiki had just looked at Marie and said that everyone has lapses in judgement and that she always needed to be cautious of those in positions of authority who might take advantage of her. That only led to more questions, but Kiki had said that was enough for one day.

Marie’s thoughts were interrupted by someone calling her name. Looking over her shoulder, she saw that it was Fritz, the local boy her age she had danced with the year before.

“How you been?” Fritz asked awkwardly.

“Well enough” Marie replied, only to see that Fritz’s eyes were no longer on her. His face took on an amazed expression as he saw Zella laying on a lounge chair beside the pool.

Marie felt a sudden flash of anger as she shoved Fritz into the pool for being an idiot.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Eight Hundred Seventy-One



15th August 1968

Hohenzollern Castle

Sharing a room with Nella and Nan didn’t bother Sophie, it was the girl in the fourth bed, Franziska Böttcher, who did. And it wasn’t because of her replacing Marie Alexandra this summer. It was Ziska’s sunny disposition and determination that she and Sophie should be the most wonderful of friends that bugged Sophie. If Sophie were in Ziska’s shoes… Er, shoe… she would be absolutely furious with her lot in the world. Ziska wasn’t like that though. She was a pretty girl who always had a smile on her face, but life had dealt her a bad hand when she had been born with a malformed right leg. Ziska said she had been missing the fibula and most of the bones that would have formed her foot and ankle. At the point when most children would have been learning to walk, Doctors had amputated Ziska’s lower leg.

Not that Ziska seemed to care, she saw the world as this wonderful place, all puppy dogs and sunshine even as she had difficulty going about the most basic of tasks at times. It was those difficulties that resulted in Ziska and Sophie being thrust together, because they had so much in common according to the adults. Kiki had told Sophie that while her difficulties were not immediately visible, she should have a lot of compassion for someone who didn’t have that luxury. What that resulted in was Sophie spending the summer helping Ziska while constantly being reminded that the castle had so many stairs, something that she not needed to think about prior.

“You really didn’t need to help me with this” Ziska said as Sophie carried both of their laundry bags up the stairs. Ziska was following as best she could on a leg made from fiberglass with the aid of a crutch.

“I don’t mind” Sophie replied. That wasn’t true, she did mind. At the same time though, she knew that it would take Ziska forever to get up these stairs with the bag putting her off balance and having to wait wasn’t something she wanted to do.

“At home we have no stairs” Ziska said, “My parents had the house built that way after I was born.”

Sophie did her best to hide her annoyance at Ziska saying things like that all of the time but wasn’t always successful. Ziska was the granddaughter of an industrialist who had developed and manufactured some sort of widget that the entire Military had used since just before the Second World War. So, her family had gobs of money. It was something that Ziska reminded everyone around her about constantly. Nella and Nan didn’t seem to care. Sophie envied their ability to do that, she knew that Nella was a Princess, as unbelievable as that seemed, while Nan was something of a mystery. Nan never talked about her past. She just said that she was the ward of her Uncle Louis and Aunt Charlotte, who were also Nella’s parents and that nothing before that mattered.

Once in their room, Sophie swiftly made her bed with the fresh sheets before helping Ziska. When they were done Ziska hugged Sophie and said that she was the greatest friend that she had ever had. Leaving Sophie feeling like a total heel for what she had thought about Ziska.



In Transit, rural Posen

It became clear that they had crossed from Poland into Posen when they saw the reactions of people in the towns and villages they passed through. While the reactions in Poland had been some variation of fear and resentment. Here though, people waved from their cars as the train they were riding on passed through the road crossings. In the towns themselves people waved flags and cheered, things like baked goods and beer had found their way into the railcar adding to the festive mood. All Christian cared about though was not having to spend the long trip back to Wunsdorf-Zossen, where the 7th Recon was garrisoned, in the passenger seat of an Iltis. The vehicles in question had been loaded onto flatcars so he didn’t need to think about them.

As Christian was watching the countryside roll by in the late afternoon sunlight, Rolf and Maus were reading one of the Traumatic Stress worksheets that they were being encouraged to fill out and submit to Medical Services Regiment for review. Of course, they were making a joke of it. Working in silly answers that usually featured Einar somehow. By this point, Einar no longer cared, he had been listening to those two morons making fun of him for ages and had become completely inured to it.

Are you ever overcome with feelings of dread?

Certainly, whenever we see Einar eating canned fish and cabbage for supper.

Do you have trouble sleeping?

With how Einar snores, you had better believe it.

Do you ever have problems with alcohol?

Occasionally, but almost entirely due to cost.

Christian eventually told the two of them to cut it out and to lose the forms they had been messing with before anyone saw them. He understood that Medical Services probably got dozens of gag forms returned to them every single day. At the same time, he wasn’t stupid. All it took was an answer that one of the Medics could read something into, telling the truth in jest as it were, and the man who had given that answer would be lucky if he didn’t find himself getting thrown down the nut hatch.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Eight Hundred Seventy-Two



17th August 1968

Hohenzollern Castle

Once again, it was the summer observance of Kiki’s birthday. She had tried and failed to have it be an informal celebration with just dear friends again this year. The formal meal was nearly done. Just desert and light entertainment left for the evening. It made Kiki wish that she could speed up time.

Kiki could see that Marie was bored. Years of wanting to sit at the adult’s table had resulted in her discovering that the reality was far different from her expectations. None of this was helped by the formal seating arrangement as done by tradition here. As the Lady of the Castle, Kiki was at the head of the table and as the daughter of a Fürstin, Marie was seated to her immediate left. Zella and Ben were seated at this end of the table and the two of them had nothing to say tonight. Ben had been pulled from flight status with the Luftwaffe Reserve Air Wing that he was in. While he had gone out of his way not to blame Kiki for that, though it was clearly because of his relationship with her that it had happened. The issue with Zella was that she was a bit annoyed by what she called Ben’s passive aggressive nonsense. “If he has a problem then he should have it out with you” Zella had said, “All of his sulking around is just a load of crap.”

Kiki understood Zella’s point, but also knew that Ben wasn’t wired that way. They would hash out what had happened eventually, but he would sulk around in the meantime because he didn’t want to ruin Kiki’s “Birthday” celebration. Aurora and Anya had sent her birthday cards that were heartfelt, but regrettably they had been unable to attend this year.

As things stood, Kiki was starting to wish that she had brought the magazine that she had been reading before dinner to the table with her. The Medical Service had been having issues getting the Heer and Marine Infantry to take the issue of Traumatic Stress seriously. After years of pressure, the Heer had finally acted but their approach was turning out to be a bit too heavy handed and the Medical Service was scrambling to get them to stop. The last thing they needed was for there to be a stigma associated with the term like had existed with shellshock a few generations earlier. Over the last twenty years the Medical Service had made great strides in the treatment of the disorder and they wanted to maintain that progress. Having the soldiers themselves becoming uncooperative because they feared the reaction wouldn’t help matters.

As minutes passed, Kiki found herself wishing that she could escape the tedium and was scanning the room for something else to think about. Seeing movement in one of the doorways, she saw Nella poke her head into the great hall. There were others peeking around the doorway. Definitely Nan if Kiki had to guess. Sophie and Ziska wouldn’t be too far away either. Kiki considered the latter two girls were something of a success. She had put them together when she realized the two could help each other. Sophie being prone to self-pity and Ziska’s trouble with asking for help when she needed it. So far this summer that had worked out. What neither girl knew was that they lived in adjoining neighborhoods, Tempelhof and Britz, so they would be attending the same schools in the coming years.

Looking at Marie, Kiki realized that she had noticed them too.

“Go join your friends out in the courtyard” Kiki said to Marie who turned and looked at her agape. The younger girls looked to Marie as something of a leader being a bit older than most of them. At the same time, Marie spent time with them whenever she wanted to escape the more grown up responsibilities that had been thrust upon her. Which had been quite often.

“Are you sure?” Marie asked.

“I would go with you if I could” Kiki replied, “So go.”

With a relieved smile, Marie left the table and ran to the other girls. As she disappeared out the doorway, Kiki thought she heard giggling and really did wish she could go with them.



Mitte, Berlin

There were a number of tourists from around the world watching as the changing of the Guard at the Neue Wache was conducted. Today, they were mostly British who were curious about how different it played out from what their Soldiers did at Buckingham Palace. Except for when this ceremony had briefly been moved to Potsdam during the Second World War after the Neue Wache had been damaged by Soviet bombers, this tradition that had gone on uninterrupted for decades.

As a Lieutenant, it was Manny’s job to make sure that it went off without a hitch.

“Where’s them spiked helmets that this lot wears?” Manny heard one of the tourists ask. If Manny had been allowed to acknowledge the tourist, he might have told him that the Pickelhaube had gone out of fashion a long time ago because the present Emperor had something of a dislike what they had come to symbolize. The Jäger style shako had been readopted by the 1st Foot for ceremonial functions like this one when the various colored berets they wore were deemed to be a distraction.

 

[Peabody-Martini]

Chapter One Thousand Eight Hundred Seventy-Three



20th August 1968

Hohenzollern Castle

“We are going to need you to get back to your room before you fall asleep” Kiki said to Ben who had been on the verge of dozing off.

Looking at Kiki in the dim light from the lamp on the bedside table, he realized that he would prefer to spend the rest of the night here with her. However, he also knew that this castle and the villages that surrounded it were full of people who loved to talk about whatever Kiki happened to be doing while she was in residence. His mere presence in her chambers late at night would give them loads to talk about for the next several years. He had only intended to talk about what had transpired over the last month before he left the next morning. With him getting grounded and how it had likely been her father putting pressure on his Commanding Officer in order to give her one less excuse to head for Poland over the summer. How they had made up for that afterwards was the sort of thing that would probably be a happy memory that would stay with Ben for the rest of his life.

Ben watched Kiki climb out of bed and pulled on her blue silk robe, much to his disappointment. He had rather liked seeing her without it.

“I mean it Benjamin” Kiki said pulling the blankets off him and throwing his clothes at him.

“Hey!” Ben yelled in reaction to suddenly finding himself in a draft while in a decidedly unclothed state. Then a cold, wet nose shoved itself into his ear. He realized that Rauchbier had decided to make an appearance, right before the dog started licking his face.

“You’ve made your point Kristina” Ben said once he pushed Rauchbier away so that he could put his clothes back on. “And I still think that you love the game, all this sneaking around.”

“Not really” Kiki replied, “I could live without it.”

“We won’t have to sneak around after next summer, now will we” Ben said.

“What is happening next summer that will change anything?” Kiki asked in reply and Ben wondered how she could be so obtuse at times as he finished dressing. He had loved every aspect of her since he had met her more than a decade earlier. However, whenever Kiki didn’t want to deal with something, she stubbornly pushed so far out of her mind it may as well not exist. That could be aggravating at times.

Opening the door, Kiki stepped out onto the darkened landing and peered down the stairs. “I can’t hear anyone down there” She said, “So, go now.”

“I love you too Princess” Ben said before he kissed her.

Ben saw the look of surprise and consternation on Kiki’s face before she closed the door because he had done that.

When he had put some distance between himself and Kiki’s room, he stopped sneaking and just ambled down the hallways humming to himself.

“Why are you up Herr Hirsch?” A child’s voice asked. Looking over, Ben saw two girls wearing the sort of flannel nightgowns that would serve them well in a drafty castle. Kiki’s guests, one with dark hair and brown eyes, the other was a dishwater blond with hazel eyes. Ben knew that the girl with hazel eyes walked with a bad limp and she used crutches to get around. He had assumed that one of her legs was broken or something and she wasn’t allowing that to get in the way of summer fun. Tonight though, he could see that she was leaning on her crutches with only one foot was visible, the other missing entirely. Their names came back to him. Sophie and Franziska.

“I couldn’t sleep” Ben replied, that seeming like a safe enough answer for these two.

“Marie said that she saw you go up the tower to kiss Kiki” Sophie said in a rather naïve tone that Ben suspected wasn’t as innocent as it seemed.

“Sure, to wish her good night” Ben replied.

“That was hours ago?” Sophie asked, “What sort of kiss is that?”

That was a question Ben was not about to answer, not in a million years.

“What are you two doing up anyway?” Ben asked changing the subject, hopefully to something safer.

“Ziska had to go to the bathroom and needed help” Sophie said, “Then she got to telling me about this Doctor she is supposed to see when she gets home… a, what did you call it?

“An Orthopedist” Ziska said, “Then I will be able to walk normally again because my leg is now too short for me.”

“Your leg?” Ben asked, wondering what sort of answer he was going to get.

“I left it in our room” Ziska said, “I told my mother that I thought it would be good for the summer, but I was wrong. It really is a bother.”

This wasn’t a conversation that Ben would expect to have with a pair of nine-year-old girls. He couldn’t help but notice that the way they came across seemed out of ordinary. Far beyond their years.

“Are you going to marry Kiki?” Sophie asked.

“I haven’t asked her” Ben said, because he knew that she would probably say no and had been trying to gently bring Kiki around to the subject.

“Are you?” Ziska asked.

“I would like to” Ben replied.