Yeah, she's wanting to run away from two Emperors, a Czar, a few Kings, a President, at least two Chancellors and most of the Reichstag.
Stupid Luck and Happenstance.
- Thread starter Peabody-Martini
- Start date
Yeah, she's wanting to run away from two Emperors, a Czar, a few Kings, a President, at least two Chancellors and most of the Reichstag.
Part 46, Chapter 604
Chapter Six Hundred Four
17th July 1947
Puyallup, Washington
Nancy was going through her mail while sitting at the kitchen table. Her Mother had just gotten home from her job at a local grocery store and was preparing dinner. Nancy had offered to help in paying for things around the house, but her parents had refused, “Your education is your job Nancy” was how her Mother had put it. After spending a year in Berlin, the adjustment to life in the Seattle had been more difficult than Nancy had thought it would be. In Berlin the new University term had already started, without her and because it was weeks until the autumn term started that the University of Washington. That gave her plenty of time to stew.
Then today she had gotten a stack of letters from her friends in Berlin and to her mortification her mother had seen them first. Naturally her Mother had questions, she sat down across the table and started with “Who’s this Dietrich Schultz?” asked while Nancy was opening the letters.
“Tilo is a friend” Nancy said, “We worked together in the museum where I worked over the last year. We went on a few dates and that included Kat’s wedding.”
Tilo’s letter was mostly stream of stream of consciousness, going on at length about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and how that related to what he’d learned while camping on a beach in Vietnam.
“So, was he that handsome young man you were dancing with at that wedding?” Her mother asked. Somehow Nancy’s parents had seen the photographs of the wedding. “And I assume that Tilo is short for Dietrich, that one looks fancy.”
Nancy looked at the letter in her hands, it was of fancy stationary. Cutting it open Nancy read it, “It’s an invitation from the parents of Kat’s sister-in-law Helene. Graf von Richthofen is throwing a party celebrating the opening of deer season this fall in Kleinburg. I doubt that I’ll be able to make it.”
“Helena the one who just had a baby, right?”
“Yes” Nancy replied, that reminded her that there was a letter from Erma Tangeman. While Nancy doubted that Doctor Tangeman would have included anything that might draw attention to herself or Nancy there were plenty of things that she could allude to that Nancy had absolutely no desire to have to explain to her mother. Tangeman had been concerned about what Nancy would be going back to, while not the dark ages America was very backwards in many respects. Nancy figured it would be better to open that one later.
“We probably shouldn’t tell your father about that one, the Red Baron himself, unbelievable.”
There was little chance of that, Nancy had only met Graf von Richthofen a handful of times. Mostly she remembered a relatively short man with a prominent nose and stern demeanor. He seemed like he was mostly concerned with hunting, his dogs, managing his estate and disapproving of his adult children, in exactly that order. While it had been amusing to see his reaction to his first grandson and namesake. Nancy personally hadn’t really liked him and assumed that the invitation was really from Helene’s mother. The less said about this, the better.
Nancy opened the next letter and read down, “My belongings are being shipped back according to this” She said, “Gia and Asia flipped for who got my room after I left. Ilse says here that they did that to avoid a fight.
“These are the young women who you lived with?”
“Ilse is Kat’s sister, Gia is their cousin and Asia is Gia’s best friend” Nancy said, “Asia and Gia had been sharing a room, I guess they got tired of that arrangement.”
That wasn’t the only change around that house. Douglas Blackwood had moved in the day after the wedding. It was a temporary measure until they figured out what their next move would be. They were talking about taking a trip to somewhere epic when they got the chance.
While Kat hadn’t made a big deal about it, but her marriage wasn’t sitting well with certain circles within German Officialdom. When their paperwork cleared in the courthouse a couple days before that circus of a church wedding it had been noted. Kat had received a sternly worded letter letting her know that her clearance to see documents above a certain classification had been suspended pending an investigation. Her access to the training camp in Judenbach was also to be restricted as well. There had been a warning included that if any information regarding operations she had been a participant in that remained classified became public knowledge then she would face severe legal consequences if it was determined that she was the source. Nancy had been outraged by how unfair that was. Kat had told her to drop it. It all revolved entirely around things that Kat wanted to put behind her.
“That place sounds crowded” Nancy’s Mother said.
“It was, Mom” Nancy said, “But there was always something going on. Gerta practicing her dance in the formal dining room that they’ve never used as a dining room. Television in the parlor or whatever Petia, the housekeeper, wanted done in the kitchen. Kat walking in after having run a dozen kilometers”
“You miss it?”
“Yes” Nancy said, “They’re such wonderful friends.”
“Good, when you left your father and I worried that you’d fall in love or in with a bad crowd” Her Mother said, “That didn’t happen.”
Yes and no. There was a great deal that went on in that house that Nancy’s Mother would be aghast about. Gerta’s choice of attire, or lack thereof. Kat’s tendency of reacting violently. Or any of the things that the girls would be getting into on an almost daily basis. But most of all Nancy had fallen in love, not with an individual but with being in a large city that sat in the center of things. Her understanding was that London and New York had a similar feel, but she’d never been to either of those places.
17th July 1947
Puyallup, Washington
Nancy was going through her mail while sitting at the kitchen table. Her Mother had just gotten home from her job at a local grocery store and was preparing dinner. Nancy had offered to help in paying for things around the house, but her parents had refused, “Your education is your job Nancy” was how her Mother had put it. After spending a year in Berlin, the adjustment to life in the Seattle had been more difficult than Nancy had thought it would be. In Berlin the new University term had already started, without her and because it was weeks until the autumn term started that the University of Washington. That gave her plenty of time to stew.
Then today she had gotten a stack of letters from her friends in Berlin and to her mortification her mother had seen them first. Naturally her Mother had questions, she sat down across the table and started with “Who’s this Dietrich Schultz?” asked while Nancy was opening the letters.
“Tilo is a friend” Nancy said, “We worked together in the museum where I worked over the last year. We went on a few dates and that included Kat’s wedding.”
Tilo’s letter was mostly stream of stream of consciousness, going on at length about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and how that related to what he’d learned while camping on a beach in Vietnam.
“So, was he that handsome young man you were dancing with at that wedding?” Her mother asked. Somehow Nancy’s parents had seen the photographs of the wedding. “And I assume that Tilo is short for Dietrich, that one looks fancy.”
Nancy looked at the letter in her hands, it was of fancy stationary. Cutting it open Nancy read it, “It’s an invitation from the parents of Kat’s sister-in-law Helene. Graf von Richthofen is throwing a party celebrating the opening of deer season this fall in Kleinburg. I doubt that I’ll be able to make it.”
“Helena the one who just had a baby, right?”
“Yes” Nancy replied, that reminded her that there was a letter from Erma Tangeman. While Nancy doubted that Doctor Tangeman would have included anything that might draw attention to herself or Nancy there were plenty of things that she could allude to that Nancy had absolutely no desire to have to explain to her mother. Tangeman had been concerned about what Nancy would be going back to, while not the dark ages America was very backwards in many respects. Nancy figured it would be better to open that one later.
“We probably shouldn’t tell your father about that one, the Red Baron himself, unbelievable.”
There was little chance of that, Nancy had only met Graf von Richthofen a handful of times. Mostly she remembered a relatively short man with a prominent nose and stern demeanor. He seemed like he was mostly concerned with hunting, his dogs, managing his estate and disapproving of his adult children, in exactly that order. While it had been amusing to see his reaction to his first grandson and namesake. Nancy personally hadn’t really liked him and assumed that the invitation was really from Helene’s mother. The less said about this, the better.
Nancy opened the next letter and read down, “My belongings are being shipped back according to this” She said, “Gia and Asia flipped for who got my room after I left. Ilse says here that they did that to avoid a fight.
“These are the young women who you lived with?”
“Ilse is Kat’s sister, Gia is their cousin and Asia is Gia’s best friend” Nancy said, “Asia and Gia had been sharing a room, I guess they got tired of that arrangement.”
That wasn’t the only change around that house. Douglas Blackwood had moved in the day after the wedding. It was a temporary measure until they figured out what their next move would be. They were talking about taking a trip to somewhere epic when they got the chance.
While Kat hadn’t made a big deal about it, but her marriage wasn’t sitting well with certain circles within German Officialdom. When their paperwork cleared in the courthouse a couple days before that circus of a church wedding it had been noted. Kat had received a sternly worded letter letting her know that her clearance to see documents above a certain classification had been suspended pending an investigation. Her access to the training camp in Judenbach was also to be restricted as well. There had been a warning included that if any information regarding operations she had been a participant in that remained classified became public knowledge then she would face severe legal consequences if it was determined that she was the source. Nancy had been outraged by how unfair that was. Kat had told her to drop it. It all revolved entirely around things that Kat wanted to put behind her.
“That place sounds crowded” Nancy’s Mother said.
“It was, Mom” Nancy said, “But there was always something going on. Gerta practicing her dance in the formal dining room that they’ve never used as a dining room. Television in the parlor or whatever Petia, the housekeeper, wanted done in the kitchen. Kat walking in after having run a dozen kilometers”
“You miss it?”
“Yes” Nancy said, “They’re such wonderful friends.”
“Good, when you left your father and I worried that you’d fall in love or in with a bad crowd” Her Mother said, “That didn’t happen.”
Yes and no. There was a great deal that went on in that house that Nancy’s Mother would be aghast about. Gerta’s choice of attire, or lack thereof. Kat’s tendency of reacting violently. Or any of the things that the girls would be getting into on an almost daily basis. But most of all Nancy had fallen in love, not with an individual but with being in a large city that sat in the center of things. Her understanding was that London and New York had a similar feel, but she’d never been to either of those places.
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Ok, the only real loose end here is Gerta and Kurt.....I mean, is that going to payoff sometime?
Ok, the only real loose end here is Gerta and Kurt.....I mean, is that going to payoff sometime?
In suo tempore
"How are you gonna keep 'em down on the farm..." or in this case "How are you gonna keep her out in the woods once she's seen Berlin?"
IMHO, ITTL the major world capitals are Berlin, London and New York (where the decisions are made). Minor capitals are Rome, Paris and DC. What's Nancy's major again? After graduation could she promote a job in New York or London if she can't find one in Berlin?
Whatever it is I am sure that the State Department would love to assign her to the Embassy in Berlin. Even without spying these social contacts are worth her weight in gold. It would only bring you into the circle of:
-The hand of the Kaizerinn
-The current CinC Luftwaffe
-The old CinC Luftwaffe
-Two majors (Kurt and Hans) who are likely to end up as CinC Heer or at least inspector of Panzer and Panzerdragoon.
-The daughter of the great Feldmarschall (also Kurt must be getting serious pressure from his regimental commander to quit fapping arround and marry this girl.)
-Any other lady who is a member of the Order of Louise.
-Oh and not to forget a Grand Duchess of freaking Russia.
The average Ambassador would kill for that kind of contact list.
Send her to Washington as the military attaché, now that would really ruffle some Yanky feathers, not to say some misogynistic Red Necks !!!!
Ah, Nancy is a US citizen, so if anything she'd be sent to the US Embassy in Berlin.
Now, Kat as a German military attaché on the other hand.... "But, she's a woman!"
"She has the Blue Max, the equivalent of our MEDAL OF HONOR! And she can probably outrun you and outshoot you and remove your balls with that nasty knife she carries if you get into a fight with her."
"Oh."
The only drawback to a posting like that is that a diplomat is supposed to be, you know, kinda diplomatic.
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Hearing about this could put Kat off having children permanently.
20th century seems to have had so many bad medical ideas.
Lobotomy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobotomy
10 Most Barbaric Treatments in Modern Healthcare
https://www.topmastersinhealthcare.com/10-most-barbaric-treatments-in-modern-healthcare/
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Kat should still be a reserve officer and with her war record and diplomatic connections and civil rank in society there is a case to make that she could be vey useful in Washington as a distraction if nothing else. All eyes would be on her perhaps allowing other operatives greater freedom of movement.
AFAIK, an attaché can't go wandering around the country but must remain within a predetermined radius of the Embassy. Outside of that circle travel must be approved or by invitation. The good thing is that at this point DC isn't as hoplophobic and Kat shouldn't have too much trouble carrying her usual armament when she goes running. "But she's carrying a gun!"
"She's an officer and a combat vet. Don't give her any trouble and she probably won't shoot you."
Part 46, Chapter 605
Chapter Six Hundred Five
27th July 1947
Berlin
Things had been going well for Kurt, he was moving in the direction of going from a staff officer to a command position. There had been a bit of speculation about his relationship with Gerta lately. That had been fine because the two of them had reconnected at the Mischner-Blackwood wedding and it had gotten a lot more serious. Kurt had figured that it would only be a matter of time before they made it official. Not only had he figured wrong but Gerta was making other plans.
“Back then her hair was always a tangled mess, and she only wore old shapeless clothes. She was angry about everything and completely wild, but our Kat was the most adorable little thing” Gerta said to Kurt who looked like someone had just smashed him over the head with a lead pipe. Gerta was explaining that the first time she’d fallen madly in love, it had been with a fourteen-year-old Kat Mischner even if it had gone unrequited, which was shocking enough. That this was after she had said that she was never going to marry Kurt, even if it was the proper thing to do, made it even more shocking.
Gerta had done well over the run of the television show and she had starred in by investing her earnings in buying up shares in the very television network that she had worked for. The explosive growth of the medium had left her financially independent and a major player in that world. The end of her television show’s run had come at a good time for her because Gerta was ready to move on to the next chapter in her life. And that only included Kurt Knispel around the margins.
After meeting Kurt tonight in this Berlin restaurant, Gerta had started talking about her plans and how they were all coming to fruition. Then she’d dropped a major bombshell. Gerta was pregnant and Kurt was the only possible father of her child, she felt he deserved to know that. Kurt had had offered to make things right and marry her, but she had told him no. Then she had spoken at length about love and the various people she’d loved in hopes of making him understand. How she’d thought about what she what she really wanted and why she thought that spending the rest of her life with just one person wasn’t for her.
“Will you please reconsider?” Kurt asked after he had downed a drink that the waiter had just brought and changing the subject back towards marginally safer subjects. He had a feeling that he was going need a few more of those to get through this evening.
“There’s no need” Gerta replied, “You have your life and I have mine. And they are extremely different.”
“People will know that…” Kurt started to say.
“Only if you’re stupid enough to tell them” Gerta said cutting him off, “My father was a good judge of character, and he said that you are not stupid.”
“What else did he say on matters like these?” Kurt asked hoping that Manfred von Wolvogle would have been sensible in this sort of matter, but he should have known better.
“He said that mares only need stallions for one thing and that for the rest, they know how to take care of themselves” Gerta said, “He felt I needed to draw a lesson from that.”
“Are you saying that is all I am to you?” Kurt asked in disbelief.
“You are a sweet man, what we’ve been doing is fun, and you’ll always be one of my great loves” Gerta said, “But it’s not going to last forever and is that really a question you want me to answer?”
No, he didn’t want her to answer that question because he already knew the answer. Somehow Kurt had to talk the daughter of the most stubborn man he’d ever met into rethinking her personal choices, after she’d made her mind up and had absolutely no incentive to do otherwise. Kurt realized at that moment what it must have been like for the Russian Generals facing von Wolvogle on the battlefield knowing that the old wolf had already arranged things so that every move was checkmate.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Emil was reading through the report that had been placed on the desk of the head of every service branch in the OKW. The final reckoning of Second World War, exact costs down to the life and Deutschmark for Germany, estimates for elsewhere. An estimated thirty million dead. Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Vietnamese and anyone else unlucky enough to get caught in the crossfire or starve to death in the resulting famines. A disturbingly significant percentage of them had been civilians, over a four-year period in two major theaters. The conclusions made him want to pound his head into the desk.
The bean counters figured that the German Empire had emerged from the war stronger than it had been before and once the costs worked their way through the economy then a period of robust economic growth was in the offing. In strict terms of the balance sheet and slide rule they had come out ahead. But Emil knew the truth. There was not a single community anywhere in this country that could be found where the genuine cost of the war couldn’t be felt. “A period of robust economic growth” wouldn’t give them their sons or daughters back. It wouldn’t change things for those who survived but were crippled physically and that wasn’t even factoring in the mental aspect.
Talking to Peter, Emil had learned that resent discoveries had validated many of Peter’s theories regarding traumatic stress. While it wasn’t considered the same thing as getting shot, it was something that Peter was trying to remove the stigma of getting treatment for, a process that was extremely slow going. The aggravating part was that Emil knew what had driven Peter into that field in the first place, sharing a room with Emil after he had first come back from Verdun.
As Emil considered all of this he looked at the ornate Field Marshal’s baton that had been a gift from Louis Ferdinand that was sitting on a shelf across his office and the ocean of blood that had been spilled to receive it. It occurred to him that there were some days when he really hated his choice of careers.
27th July 1947
Berlin
Things had been going well for Kurt, he was moving in the direction of going from a staff officer to a command position. There had been a bit of speculation about his relationship with Gerta lately. That had been fine because the two of them had reconnected at the Mischner-Blackwood wedding and it had gotten a lot more serious. Kurt had figured that it would only be a matter of time before they made it official. Not only had he figured wrong but Gerta was making other plans.
“Back then her hair was always a tangled mess, and she only wore old shapeless clothes. She was angry about everything and completely wild, but our Kat was the most adorable little thing” Gerta said to Kurt who looked like someone had just smashed him over the head with a lead pipe. Gerta was explaining that the first time she’d fallen madly in love, it had been with a fourteen-year-old Kat Mischner even if it had gone unrequited, which was shocking enough. That this was after she had said that she was never going to marry Kurt, even if it was the proper thing to do, made it even more shocking.
Gerta had done well over the run of the television show and she had starred in by investing her earnings in buying up shares in the very television network that she had worked for. The explosive growth of the medium had left her financially independent and a major player in that world. The end of her television show’s run had come at a good time for her because Gerta was ready to move on to the next chapter in her life. And that only included Kurt Knispel around the margins.
After meeting Kurt tonight in this Berlin restaurant, Gerta had started talking about her plans and how they were all coming to fruition. Then she’d dropped a major bombshell. Gerta was pregnant and Kurt was the only possible father of her child, she felt he deserved to know that. Kurt had had offered to make things right and marry her, but she had told him no. Then she had spoken at length about love and the various people she’d loved in hopes of making him understand. How she’d thought about what she what she really wanted and why she thought that spending the rest of her life with just one person wasn’t for her.
“Will you please reconsider?” Kurt asked after he had downed a drink that the waiter had just brought and changing the subject back towards marginally safer subjects. He had a feeling that he was going need a few more of those to get through this evening.
“There’s no need” Gerta replied, “You have your life and I have mine. And they are extremely different.”
“People will know that…” Kurt started to say.
“Only if you’re stupid enough to tell them” Gerta said cutting him off, “My father was a good judge of character, and he said that you are not stupid.”
“What else did he say on matters like these?” Kurt asked hoping that Manfred von Wolvogle would have been sensible in this sort of matter, but he should have known better.
“He said that mares only need stallions for one thing and that for the rest, they know how to take care of themselves” Gerta said, “He felt I needed to draw a lesson from that.”
“Are you saying that is all I am to you?” Kurt asked in disbelief.
“You are a sweet man, what we’ve been doing is fun, and you’ll always be one of my great loves” Gerta said, “But it’s not going to last forever and is that really a question you want me to answer?”
No, he didn’t want her to answer that question because he already knew the answer. Somehow Kurt had to talk the daughter of the most stubborn man he’d ever met into rethinking her personal choices, after she’d made her mind up and had absolutely no incentive to do otherwise. Kurt realized at that moment what it must have been like for the Russian Generals facing von Wolvogle on the battlefield knowing that the old wolf had already arranged things so that every move was checkmate.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Emil was reading through the report that had been placed on the desk of the head of every service branch in the OKW. The final reckoning of Second World War, exact costs down to the life and Deutschmark for Germany, estimates for elsewhere. An estimated thirty million dead. Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Vietnamese and anyone else unlucky enough to get caught in the crossfire or starve to death in the resulting famines. A disturbingly significant percentage of them had been civilians, over a four-year period in two major theaters. The conclusions made him want to pound his head into the desk.
The bean counters figured that the German Empire had emerged from the war stronger than it had been before and once the costs worked their way through the economy then a period of robust economic growth was in the offing. In strict terms of the balance sheet and slide rule they had come out ahead. But Emil knew the truth. There was not a single community anywhere in this country that could be found where the genuine cost of the war couldn’t be felt. “A period of robust economic growth” wouldn’t give them their sons or daughters back. It wouldn’t change things for those who survived but were crippled physically and that wasn’t even factoring in the mental aspect.
Talking to Peter, Emil had learned that resent discoveries had validated many of Peter’s theories regarding traumatic stress. While it wasn’t considered the same thing as getting shot, it was something that Peter was trying to remove the stigma of getting treatment for, a process that was extremely slow going. The aggravating part was that Emil knew what had driven Peter into that field in the first place, sharing a room with Emil after he had first come back from Verdun.
As Emil considered all of this he looked at the ornate Field Marshal’s baton that had been a gift from Louis Ferdinand that was sitting on a shelf across his office and the ocean of blood that had been spilled to receive it. It occurred to him that there were some days when he really hated his choice of careers.
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Well, I never expected that from Gerta, for some reason.
ANyway, Emil is now a Field Marshall. Has he been ennobled as well, and by this is mean a "Von"
*-*-*-*
Oh, actually, just wondering. What happened to Ludendorff and Hindenberg?
ANyway, Emil is now a Field Marshall. Has he been ennobled as well, and by this is mean a "Von"
*-*-*-*
Oh, actually, just wondering. What happened to Ludendorff and Hindenberg?
To risk of sounding amoral, the butcher's bill of World War II ITTL was WAAAAY Cheaper than OTL. Just BARELY over a third of the casualties in fact. Sadly and ironically, the biggest part of the bill was paid by the Ukranians and those that Stalin let die.
Well....she is the Old Wolf's daughter. Also ironically, if you think it, in the coming years, a new phenomena WILL pop around in German Society due to the casualties of the War, namely several thousand Single Mothers and Widows, something that will take off in a heavy level the social smear of being a single mother.
The number, I later adjusted it, was meant to be about half of OTL because the Western Front and the costly offensives of 1944-45 didn't happen in TTL.
FBKampfer
Banned
Still 30 million isn't unreasonable for the Eastern front alone (and those are some of the more conservative estimates factoring in civilians. 40-45 million is entirely possible, given shoddy Soviet record keeping, a recalcitrant populous, and the general pile of kindling the Germans made great efforts to reduce any Soviet government building to).
Add in the Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Manchurian losses (which were implied to be significant ITTL) and you're a fuckin' Saint compared to OTL.
Hell, just a really rough estimate based on relative performance and TOE, but there's no way in hell Germany took more than 2 million killed. For 4 years of full-scale war in the 1940's, Emile should be whistling and dancing a jig.
And regarding Gerta, I'm not at all surprised. She's always been wishy-washy and flighty. Here's hoping she hires a good nanny.
Add in the Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Manchurian losses (which were implied to be significant ITTL) and you're a fuckin' Saint compared to OTL.
Hell, just a really rough estimate based on relative performance and TOE, but there's no way in hell Germany took more than 2 million killed. For 4 years of full-scale war in the 1940's, Emile should be whistling and dancing a jig.
And regarding Gerta, I'm not at all surprised. She's always been wishy-washy and flighty. Here's hoping she hires a good nanny.