To deal with the devil a story of 1964

London 1964
The foreign Secretary looked out of his window across to the houses of parliament a casual glance to the Armed troops who stood on various junctions, a fact of life now rather than the traditional British bobby.
He was nervous ahead of the meeting he always was he looked back across the room his private secretary to take the record, his military advisor and the inevitable security officer, he then saw the huge Mercedes sweeping across the square and realised time was just about up, the Soldiers clicked a smart salute as the
black car bearing a small red flag with that white circle and that bloody black symbol in the middle on each wing pulled into the courtyard of the foreign and commonwealth office.
Three immaculately dressed germans strode into the conference room, two adjutants and the Reichs Minister for foreign relations, The Foreign secretary held out his hand, " my dear Von Rippentrop I hope you father is still well ? " The German replied " Thank you yes he still has a fond memories of his times in London before the events. The " events " was how the polite Germans always referred to the last war, there was a polite introductions of the other men in the room and then The German said , ": and now to Business"...
 
ost reich
the discussions went on and on, The Germans complained about Asylum seekers crossing over the Dutch and Belgium borders into the UK, They complained about the dutch buying more Jet fighters and the Danes buying three new frigates, Rippentop then began the last item for discussion, trade with the Ost reich, The foreign Secretary began with the usual preamble that unless and until the Germans were willing to allow a investigation team into the Ost reich to confirm it was a safe area then her Majestys Government would be unwilling to allow trade into the area, he then began to pull his papers together anticipating the closing of the meeting, when Von Rippentop said " I quiet understand and to that end the Ost Reich Government general agree to a team of no more than 10 trade officials to visit the Ost reich and the three citadel cities, " The foreign Secretary glanced at his private secretary, and the Military aides all of whom struggled to keep a look of utter amazement from showing, the Germans had just changed a position they had held for over 15 years, for the first time since the war they were willing to allow westerners to visit the Ost reich, he struggled to stop a smile breaking across his face, he knew every other person on his side of the room was thinking the same thing, the bloody Germans are getting desperate.
 
10 Downing Street Cabinet room
Three days after the Germans invited a delegation to visit the Ost reich the New labour Government was holding a full meeting of the Cabinet. Harold Wilson was as surprised by his election win as anyone in the UK, the Tories had been in Power for virtually all of the fifties and the start of the 60s, the economy was in good shape, overseas relationships were good and yet the tories had fallen out so much amongst themselves that they lost the election rather than labour win it, Wilsons plan for the foreseeable future was to keep things ticking over until such times that he and his colleagues had bedded in, importantly in foreign affairs the 1943 Lisbon treaty which had ended the War still had four more years to run, He had hoped that by the time to re-negotiate began he would have had more time to understand how to fully deal with the Reich, and yet they had suddenly moved a position they had held for decades, He turned to Gordon Walker his foreign Secretary, who had only days before met with the German Ambassador, " Please Patrick, explain why this change is important enough to take up our time?'
Gordon Walker began a brief outline, " Since the final end of the old soviet union in 48 we all know the Germans established what they call the Ost Reich a huge swath of the Old Russian lands and parts of Poland the entire area is dominated by the three Citadel cities occupied by Germans and approved nationalities, and basically since 48 that entire part of the continent of Europe has been a mystery to us,
we have the stories of the German Asylum seekers and some stories from the Russians left in Siberia, mass deportations a brutal partisan war waged until now we thought. We have engaged with trade to some extent with the Reich since the late 40s, but the Tories supported by us in opposition have always stood away from dealing in any way with the Ost Reich as we considered it occupied lands not covered by the Lisbon Treaty, and frankly if only a fraction of what is said of the Ost Reich from our sources is correct, its a bloody hell hole which we don't want to engage with, nor need to, Now suddenly they are happy for us to visit, so we either the Reich that has sorted its problems out, which may create the old problems of more powerful Reich, or they are Desperate for our cash and trade which again raises serious issues for our own security and defence, we now have the opportunity to put eyes and ears on the ground and make informed judgements, thats why Prime Minister it is essential to send a
delegation as soon as possible of the right people" There was a general murmer of approval, the raw truth was natural curiosity was as powerful an argument as the obvious security arguments, was the Reich now the effective master of a huge part of continental Europe, or was it struggling to maintain the veneer of power?
 
You've just volunteered
John Bowen sat at his desk in the Immigration office at harwich port, the Holland ferry had docked a few hours ago, and the latest group of German Asylum seekers had been gathered in the lobby outside,
Bowen. John, Captain Royal Artillery, currently on attachment to MI6 was looking at the sorry human flotsam that sat outside his office, forty or so this time he rubbed his neck and reckoned that it would take two days to fully document and interrogate the group, but he knew that he had until the next ferry arrival less than 24 hours before the next group arrived.
He opened his door pointed to a slightly stooped male aged about 40 and in pitch perfect German said "you come here", an as was the usual way with people who had grown up in the Reich when spoken to by anyone in authority, the male leapt to his feet immediately and walked towards Bowen
Bowen began by sitting back and in a softer tone Said " right please just tell me who you are and where your from, ? as you talk I will ask questions, tell the truth and you have nothing to fear if you lie or hide anything when asked you will be returned do you understand ? The Man nodded.
My name is Hans Hasmier , I am 39 years old I am originally from the town of Bautzen and I claim political asylum in England" Bowen had heard this to many times before.
Now Hans I want you answer my questions as quickly as possible, "Year of birth" ? "1925 Sir " Now came the question which usually caused the embarrassing silence, " which branch of the armed forces or nazi party did you serve in rank, serial number, and where did you see service ?"
There it was the silence only of a few seconds but a silence that seemed to indicate some guilt in the asylum seekers.
" I was conscripted into the Army in 1943 and was released in 1945 I have never seen any action and never fought sir" That was an unusual answer, he didn't look like a medical case or a mental case for that matter, " so Hans your a lucky man then No eastern front for you ? " The man looked Bowen straight in the eye " No Sir, I was not lucky my service was in clean up after Mannheim Sir "
The word " Mannheim " shook Bowen to his core, he had only ever met one other person who had any association with Mannheim, he pressed the hide buzzer under his desk, a Radiological medical team would need to check this man before any further questioning could take place.
As far as Bowen Knew Mannheim was still a smoldering radioactive ruin a massive circle of 100kms of exclusion zone even today. The good news was this man was Now Bowens asset they would both be off to a nice country house just outside Cambridge for the de-breif.
 
Mannheim
A Day after Bowen had first seen Hans they were now both sitting in a large comfortably appointed country house in the mid Suffolk countryside, isolated, discreetly guarded, and the centre of the Uk effort to learn as much as possible about the Mannheim event, 21 years earlier, the event that simply changed the world in one morning.
Bowen was looking at Hans Hasmier, every German asylum seeker had their own stories, but in a way they all so similar, the War , the Invite to travel to the Ost Reich, the struggles to avoid it, on medical grounds, military service, then the posting, family members simply disappearing, many were simply economic refugees those who greedily devoured food , gazed at the televisions the cars etc, and then there were the broken ones released after years of penal servitude in the camps, the walking dead, yet as he gazed on Hans he wasn't so easy to identify, yes there was the haunted look, but not much else, the next week would se him interrogated in a polite English manner but nevertheless with a hint of menace and ruthlessness.
Bowen sat reading the contents of a buff folder the information in the folder was the culmination of 21 years of research, investigations, phots and interrogations, into the Mannheim event, all of the Information was contained one one sheet of a4 typed paper.

Most secret

Findings and conclusions in the events of 1st March 1943 city of Mannheim Greater German Reich.

At 0900hrs to the south east of the city of Mannheim a massive explosion occurred which in modern terms is estimated to be in the range of 5 to 8 megatons the city and surrounding areas including the towns of Worms to the North and Speyer to the south were completely destroyed no structure remained visible for an area of 35 miles from the estimated centre of the explosion.
At this time it is not conclusively known if this was the accidental detonation of an atomic device or some other form of accident. The Conclusion of the Dewey commission in 1958 is that the best estimate
it was a massive detonation of a significant mass of atomic material rather than a specific atomic weapon. ( summary of Dewey commission report attached appendix A) What is known is that no person civilian or Military who was suspected of involvement in the German Atomic programme has been seen alive or mentioned since that event, it is therefore presumed all perished in the event.
(A summary of the German atomic programme pre 1943 is attached appendix b)
Since 1943 there is no evidence from any source that Germany has conducted any further research into the military or civilian use of Atomic Power.

The scale of radioactive contamination was wide scale causing the evacuation and continued exclusion of a zone of 65 miles from the centre of the explosion.

Death toll. it is estimated from the size of population and subsequent examination of rail movements and statements from the German authorities that the overall death toll from this event over the initial blast and deaths from radioactivity illnesses is 2.3 million. No official figure has ever been released.

Photography. images taken four days after the blast are attached, please note the crews off the three photo recon planes all died of radioactivity related illnesses within three months of the operation.



The report then continued briefly to say that after 21 years we still didn't have a clue, what Bowen did know was that that after the defeat at Stalingrad, coupled with the Dieppe raid success, the Germans sought the Armisitice and the treaty of Lisbon Mannheim was a massive straw the broke that camels back.
 
the expendables
At the same time Bowen was reading the scant details of the report in a plush wood panelled room in London the Head of MI6 was heading up a small group of advisors. " Gentlemen the Government has been in voted to send a team of observers to the Ost reich and its ours duty to make sure that the personal selected are sufficient to meet our requirements, he then turned to Alex Goulding the lead on what little was know about the Ost reich, " right Alex what do know in brief and more importantly what do we want to know.
Goulding looked at the small select group and began " Since the major hostilities ended in 44 the Germans began furfilling their aim to create this massive superstate in the east, with the final collapse of the Russians in 48 they began in Ernest, entire army groups turned over to construction and clearing huge areas turned over to open land, and the building of the three huge cities, basically Gentlemen they have continued to build and clear for the past 16 years, the reports of partisan resistance really petered out from about 1955, but what we know from some sources is it has continued in some shape or form until now, they have built this huge "eastern wall " a earth rampart 15 metres high right across the continent, and what we know is that even today the overwhelming majority of the German armed forces deploy along this line, what we don't know is the extent to which there is any organised resistance, the small number of warlords that " Control" Siberia unto the Japanese line are unwilling or unable to provide any useful Information, what we would like to know is firstly the state of the Germans forces deployed, the extent to which there is any opposition, and most Importantly the Economic state of the Ost reich and the mood of the population, It has now been accepted from sources that it is the Ost reich that has been a massive drain on the overall economy of the Greater reich causing the present day conditions"
The head looked up, " thank you Alex, and how Important do you feel this is? " Its Vital Sir, unless and un til we know what state the Ost reich is in we cannot access our continuing relationship with the germans " there was a general murmur of con sent around the table.

The head then spoke " so all considerations concerning the team that go are secondary ? "
" Yes Sir, in my view once the information is received all other considerations concerning the safe return of the team are of secondary Importance "
" thank you Alex now let us turn to selecting this gallant band of expendables"
 
the Welcome party
Peter Klein walked up the stairs the lift being out of action yet again, the tenth floor seems more like the twentieth, broken lift, broken heating a less than helpful receptionist, somethings never seemed to change, as he reached the tenth floor, he waited to get his breath back and make sure he didn't look like he had sweated to much, he looked out across the city, the Mitte citadel, the middle circular city of the three which dominated the entire Ost Reich, a massive round city, 140kms in diameter, surrounded by a concrete wall 25 metres high, which ran on and on, separating the city from the outside. Klein looked out across homes, factories parks, railways, two airports, massive barracks, everything a modern city needed except joy, hope, happiness, according to the master plan he was sure they would arrive at sometime, but just not yet.
He opened the inner office door, and walked to shake the hand of Mayer the " executive Mayor " of Mitte citadel, Mayer was young ambitious, a good party man, and along with the entire civil service a man who counted down his posting day by day hour by hour, " Klein, welcome my dear fellow, enjoyed your walk ! now I have some exciting news for you, in both of your capacities, " Klein was a senior official
in the economic development department, and also the senior Abwehr officer in the City with responsibilities over a vast tract of land, the city built on the former Russian city of Tula.
Mayer then outlined the planned visit by a British trade and security delegation the vital need to secure British trade, finance, and allow them to see how safe and secure the Ost reich was.
Klein was staggered but attempted to keep a straight face, not knowing whether to laugh, or cry.
Klein sat a few moments carefully thinking of his response, it seemed like minutes before he replied, " Sir, what are we expected to do? we can accommodate them certainly, show them the city, show them some model farms, and then ? do we just hope some bloody mad Russian doesn't get them before one of the homelanders do? The homelanders officially did not exist, and if something doesn't exist then they cant be a security threat or terrorists can they? Mainly ex-forces settlers who had enough of the east, and who justed wanted permission to return home, to begin with by asking politely, petitions,
peaceful meetings, and when that failed by hijacking of trains, by small bombs, by shooting the odd official, not enough to cause a massive crackdown, but enough to be a constant nuisance, the biggest fear was they would somehow combine with the left over russkies now thats what kept Klein awake at night.
"Its Simple my Dear Klein, have you ever heard of a potemkin village ?"
 
Raw Politics
10 Downing Street four days after full cabinet meeting, Harold Wilson liked the idea of smaller Cabinet groups to discuss specific issues, today it was Foreign relationships, there was Wilson himself , Gordon walker the Foreign Secretary, Dennis Healy the Minister for defence, and George Brown who had responsibility specifically for the commonwealth, Healy began in forceful direct almost accusing tones, "Prime minister forgive me in my perhaps lack of understanding of our Cabinet discussions, but are we really contemplating dealing with the bloody Nazis ? " there was a heavy emphasis on the word Nazi. Gorge Brown in his usual less than Political tones chimed in " bloody madness if you ask me I would rather deal with the Devil at least he would have more decency than that lot"
Wilson remained Silent but looked at Gordon Walker, inviting a comment, he looked across the group of four, " prime Minister although my role here is our diplomatic positions in terms of raw Politics a deal or even a hint of a deal would see the Labour Party split, and out of power for the next 20 years,"he paused and added " and thats the best outcome I can see "
Wilson leaned back in his chair began lighting and sucking on his pipe filling the room with clouds of smoke and fumes, as the smoke cleared the others in the room could see a most definite smile across the Prime Ministers face.
" Gentlemen, I have no more any intention of dealing with those thugs than you do, but for the first time since the Lisbon treaty the Nazi gang have made a conssession, we finally get to see the east,
why? why Now? what do we know, we know that German inflation is running at around 40 percent a year, we know that there are more desertions from their Army in east than ever before, the French have told us that only a week ago 750 German soldiers appeared in Algeria at a Legion barracks on masse from a freighter they had " borrowed " so Gentlemen I smell raw Politics, the group knows as the Central party committee is it appears attempting to draw us in, is Hitler still in control? we don't know, but putting some boots on the ground will do us no harm, no harm whatsoever, but I give you this promise, If this Government lasts a full five years, then in those five years if we have brought the end of the Nazi Government even a little closer, then I personally will die a happy man, If I thought we could destroy them totally without the slaughter of millions I would press the button myself, but for now if the Nazis want to try their hand at politics then gentlemen I feel we can match them and best them "
 
Germania
At the same time Wilson was holding his small cabinet meeting Peter Klein was staring out of the window of a passenger plane coming into one of the three airports serving Germania, towering above the city was the still yet to be completed Dome of the great hall, affectionally or not not so affectionally known throughout the reich as "speers tit" it had collapsed twice in building and after 20 years still not finished, Klein thought it was the perfect example of the reich, grand plans but poor results, it was a thought shared by more people than he could suspect. After his meeting in Mitte Citadel he had spoken to his superiors, and was summoned to speak to the " Admiral" himself, The term " Admiral " was the title given to every head of the Abwehr since the days of Canares.
An hour after landing Klein was ushered in the " admirals" office behind the desk sat a General in fact, General Kurts, a man who had served the reich in uniform for 45 years, commanding a division in France in 40, then to the east, a unblemished record of victories, culminating in the great battle of the north destroying what was left of the soviet armies in bitter cold of the Kola Peninsula. After the war he was appointed as head of intelligence in 53, and whose main role was preventing the reich inflicting yet more harm on itself.
Kurts ushered Klein to a chair, poured a coffee and a black market scotch whisky began, " My dear Klein, you seem somewhat taken aback by the invite to the tommies? " Klein just gushed his response, he swore he cursed, he was incoherent it was more a rant at the overwhelming stupidity of the idea, the idea that in any realistic way the Ost reich could be made to appeal to anyone, he paused for breath, and then looking at Kurts remembered who he was and where he was, " Sir, my apologies I forgot my place forgive my outburst" Kurts looked back at him, " My dear fellow if I was in your place my language would have been even worse ! you have been asked to perform a miracle, in the old days they would have just told you to find some national socialist fervour and move mountains ! today we are more realistic, I can never be sure if thats a good or a bad thing Klein"
" what do I do Sir"
" you will do your best Klein, you will treat your English visitors with respect, you will show them the sites, you will flatter them and then you will identify the member or members of the party who are from British intelligence and you will tell him that I need to talk to them privately about matters of great importance to our two countries, and the peace of Europe.
Klein looked back slightly bemused " I am with you fully sir, no matter what sir," and then looking out of the window Klein asked to nobody in particular " how the hell did it come to this"
" its simple Klein because we won the war, we won the war and it has destroyed us as surely as if we won Klein, and in 2 hours you will meet with me and several others who have decided we need to address the past and the future"
 
smoke and mirrors
Two hours later Klein and General Kurts arrived at a large old mansion at Wannsee on the Outskirts of the city, Kurts broke the silence, " you know this is where the extremists held a meeting about wiping of half of Europe long ago, "
" No Sir, I had not heard of that " Kurts continued, " yes and without Lisbon and the rest in 43 I doubt if anyone would have heard or owned up to it " They continued into a large room, there was no conference table, just some sofas and a well stocked drinks trolley, Klein didn't seem to recognise anyone present but out of the five men in the room three wore Military uniforms of high rank, there was a slightly built older man and then Klein stopped dead in his tracks, there by the open fire stood Johan Lang, the ": Corporal " a wanted terrorist, the leader of the homelanders, a former settler soldier sent to his free 150 acres in there Ost reich, along with four millions others and who was now the leader of the underground who wanted out, who wanted nothing more to return home, Klein looked at
Kurts, " Sir ?" "Relax Klein what you are about to join a select band of stout fellows who are going to change the world" and at the moment the door opened in in strode Willie Fuchs, deputy chancellor
of the greater reich, One of the three members of the triumvirate who ran the entire reich in the name of the Hitler, Fuchs, the popular face of the Government, always on the radio, always in public smiling
seen drinking coffee and beer with the ordinary Germans, In simplistic terms Fuchs was as popular a leader as could exist in the reich, and now one who took a few strides and slapped Klein on the back,
" My good man Klein you are going to save Germany for us all, but if you are found out its curtains for us all," and then he began laughing the loud belly laugh Klein has seen on many a Television appearance.
 
the past makes the future
Willie Fuchs, looked at the small group around him and then directly at Klein, " a few hours ago my dear Klein you asked how did it all come to this, well my good man its because the price of victory is nearly as high as the price of defeat, in 43 we had been given a bloody nose by the tommies, we had withdrawn and lost at Stalingrad, and then Mannheim rocked the boat totally, I was there you know at the top table in the wolfs lair, all standing overlooking a huge map, the biggest map you had ever seen, He was tapping his fingers and jabbing around, but we all knew the magic was gone from his commands, Then Halder who had been brought back just looked up and told the room , " we need time and we need to drag every single man tank, gun and plane from garrisoning the entire continent of Europe, we can win in the east but only and only if we abandon everything else and have six months , " Fucks then spread his hands wide, " you know that before that moment in time Halder would have been gone again never to return, but one by one every single military man agreed with him ! and that's when it happened, its called the miracle now but at the time nearly everyone laughed, but you can't detract from him, he did a brave brave thing, at that moment from the back of the room Rippentrop pushed to the table and told him, " I will fly to Moscow and get you a cease fire " `You cant not imagine that few seconds did we laugh , scoff , shout him down, and then he looked right at Rippentrop, moved towards him and hugged him, you know what he said to Rippentrop he actually said Gods speed,
I tell you now I thought they Soviets would shot his plane down instantly, but what none of us knew, not even brave old Rippentrop, was that that bastard Stalin was in a bloody rage with the tommies, he thought they had dropped an Atomic bomb on Mannheim, you know he had killed every single English agent he had, he was convinced they were all double agents to a man ! there was a joke going around the tommies that Stalin had killed more civilians than the Luftwaffe !, Stalin was convinced they tommies had the bomb, and he wanted time as well, we knew full well that the 12 month cease fire was a trap both by us and the soviets, it was just who was going to push first, and once the soviets agreed to the 12 months cease fire, good old Rippentrop went to Lisbon, and that meant by December 43, we had retired from the west, the tommies agreed to secure our western border from the French, and we finally had somewhere to dump all the jews shirkers, and others. the only problem was what to do with the extremists and the old man himself .......
 
total and final war
Fuchs guided the assembled group towards more drinks and food, and continued, " we all knew that the cease fire was nothing more than a chance to re-group, we knew we were in a race, but good old Stalin began purging his generals again and gave us more time, thats when by total chance by total bad luck, that the transport plane managed to smash into that one lodge at the wolfs lair, and by some wild chance manage to wipe out all of the extremists in one go, what fortune smiles on us occasionally, and he began laughing the famous belly laugh, The old man needed time to re-coup, and thats when we decided to help him by re-ordering things a little bit ! for the first time the Generals would run the eastern war without " Help " and on the 6th June 1944, the soviets attacked with all of their might, they smashed through the border, crushing wooden tanks, smashing empty pillboxes wiping out paper and string planes, for three days hey ran wild until they hit our real front line, and for four years the war ranged we never stopped moving forward that day, we smashed army after army, took millions of square kilometres of ground, and moved forward, always forward, but the cost the cost was more than we could imagine, by the start of 48 we had nearly run out of men, factories were run by women and children, we killed millions but they did to, " he now took a somber tone, his voice became quiet, more considered, " on November the first 1948, we declared the war won, there was nobody left to surrender to us for gods sake, we had laid Eastern Europe to waste, we had won a sticking rotten pile of corpses and wasteland, we were exhausted broke, an entire generation of our best and most able dead or dying, but we had beaten the bear, we had won the war, we had saved Germany, that was our glory, " he spread his hands out wide but again kept his voice quiet almost reverential, " and now more than a dacade later, what are we, ? we are broken exhausted, we try and keep a million men at arms along a earth wall, we try to stop our young leaving the country, we try and we struggle, and yes gentlemen, I can see no way out of the struggle, He turned to Klein, and staring straight him said " we need the tommies, we need the English money, we need trade, we need to become a normal people once again, and you my friend are going you hold out that hand on our behalf"
 
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