Von-Lettow

Years ago I read a really good timeline where Von-Lettow became Chancellor of Germany between WW1-WW2 and led the country to greatness. Does anyone have a link for it? Ive lost mine!
 
Is it German Military Regime?

I'll post it: (Downloaded it once from ... somewhere)

The German Military Regime: from the Thirties onward

Doug Hoff

German Territorial Provisions of the Treaty of Versailles

*Part the First: Prelude to a Coup*

*POINT OF DIVERGENCE:kissingheart:

1917: General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck's (L-V) African forces are leading
the British and South Africans on a merry chase throughout German and
Portuguese East Africa, scoring a series of hit and run victories over
the numerically-superior Allied forces. Cut off from the Fatherland, the
German troopers are perpetually short of supplies and ammunition. L-V's
efforts have made him a hero throughout the Reich, so the German
government dispatches a long-range cargo airship loaded with fifteen
tons of supplies. In our timeline, the ship, the L59, left Bulgaria and
made it well into the Sudan before receiving an erroneous report that
L-V's forces had been captured, so it turned around and headed back to
German territory. The POD is this: the L59 never receives the message,
continues its mission, and links up with L-V in German East Africa.
Resupplied and reequipped, L-V pulls off even more upset triumphs over
the Allies, causing his fame to rise even higher than it did in OTL.
East Africa is not the decisive theatre of the war, however, and Germany
still goes down to defeat as in OTL.

1919-1930: The Great War is over, and Germany is in chaos. L-V is back
in the Fatherland, and plays an instrumental role is suppressing the
Kapp putch against the Weimar republic. [In OTL, L-V aids the putch and
resigns from the Army shortly thereafter] But, in this timeline, he is
bouyed by his even greater successes and gratified by the support he
received from the home front during the War, he decides to remain in the
Army. Over the next ten years he is one leg of the troika that is
instrumental in making the most of the Reichswehr, the diminutive army
allowed Germany by the Treaty of Versailles, and secretly expanding its
numbers and capabilities. L-V works with Generals Groener and Von Seeckt

Events progress as in OTL, with runaway inflation crippling the German
economy in the early twenties, and the Nazi Party, like a vulture,
prospering amongst the misery. Germany had, for the most part, recovered
by 1929, when the bottom fell out of the tub: the Great Depression began.

The Republican government was paralyzed in the face of the crisis. The
Chancellor, Heinrich Bruening, could not command a majority in the
Reichstag for his fiscal measures. He resorted to calling upon President
Hindenburg to rule by decree, as provided for in the German
constitution. In the elections of 1930, the NSDAP wins an incredible
number of votes, making it the second largest party in the Reichstag.

Concerns arise in the Army that the NSDAP is trying to infiltrate
Germany's military institutions. These fears are borne out when two
Lieutenants are arrested for distributing Nazi tracts in their barracks.
The documents call on the Army not to resist an attempted Nazi putsch.

The government wants to try the two officers in the civil courts for
treason. [POD: in OTL, they do]. L-V, in this timeline, prevails upon
the government to allow the Army to discipline their own. At the court
martial proceedings, Hitler testifies that the NSDAP has no intention of
assuming power by any but constitutional means. L-V, who has read /Mein
Kampf/, observes Hitler's testimony, and concludes that this
"guttertrash," as he refers to Hitler privately, is a mortal danger to
both the German Army and State. The two officers are convicted an
sentenced, at L-V's insistence, to long prison terms.

L-V immediately consults with his two compatriots, von Seeckt and
Groener, and persuades them that the Nazis must be stopped by any means
necessary. The three Generals begin laying the groundwork for a coup
d'etat. The Generals covertly contact many mid-level officers, securing
their loyalty and directing them to report any unusual activity by the
Nazis.

1932: The crisis arrives in the form of presidential elections. There
are two leading candidates, Hindenburg and Hitler. Neither is acceptable
to the Generals: Hitler, they are convinced, is more dangerous than ever
and Hindenburg is lapsing in and out of senility. The Generals are
appalled at the prospect of Hitler becoming president, and fear that the
octogenarian Hindenburg would be in the grip of what they are referring
to as the "Nazi-Communist Reichstag." The time has come to act.

*Part the Second: The Coup d’etat*

Midnight, March 10, 1932: The Generals spring into action. Von Seeckt
and Groener order Reichswehr units in Berlin and other major German
cities seize control of the post offices, radio stations, and government
buildings. The Reichstag building is captured, and, in the morning, the
deputies barred from entrance. Hindenburg is confined to his home. The
Generals confront him in the early morning hours and ask his blessing
for the coup. The old Fieldmarshall refuses to violate his oath to the
Republic, but agrees to remain silent. Chancellor Bruening similarly
refuses to acknowledge the coup and is placed under house arrest.

LV broadcasts a radio message announcing the coup to Germany. In his
"Message to the German People," he announces that the Army carried out
the coup to preserve "traditional German dignities and liberties" from
destruction by revolutionary forces from the right and left. All
political parties that do not affirm their loyalty to the new regime
will be barred from the Reichstag.

Political reaction is swift: the parties of the Center and Left denounce
the coup. The Socialists and Communists call for a general strike. A
fierce debate ensues within the Nazi leadership: Gregor Strasser and
Ernst Roem want to send the Brownshirts in to the streets and oppose the
Army by force. Hitler temporizes, the orders the NSDAP Reichstag
deputies to affirm their loyalty to the Generals. Better to be within
the government than to be outlawed. He also hopes that, by acknowledging
the coup, he can show the German public that the NSDAP is no threat to
the Army.

Other right-wing parties also agree to work with the new regime and are
seated in the Reichstag. The veterans private army, the Stahlhelm,
places itself at the service of the Generals. It and the Army are
instrumental in breaking up anti-coup demonstrations and strikes during
the next weeks.

The Generals Consolidate Their Power:

When the "Generals’ Reichstag" convenes, it accepts Hindenburg’s and
Bruening’s resignations (the latter coerced, the former out of fatigue).
LV is appointed interim Chancellor and Von Seeckt as interim President.
Groening remains in his office as Defense Minister. The terms of the
President and Chancellor are extended indefinitely, and the President’s
right to rule by decree is similarly confirmed without limit. Hitler
seethes on the sidelines, but orders Nazi deputies to vote with the
majority, fearing (rightly), that the Party will be outlawed and
suppressed if it fails to cooperate.

The German populace reacts to the coup and subsequent events with
relief: the Republic was paralyzed and lacked the confidence of the
people, and the Army was the only institution they trusted. LV, a
national hero, is viewed as a paragon of honesty and respectability.
Sporadic street-fighting ensues as the Communists and Socialists push
their efforts to overthrow the Generals. The Army and the Stahlhelm
crush the rebellions; the SD stays at home. Within a month, calm has
returned to Germany and the Army is firmly in control.

The split within the NSDAP does not heal: Roehm and Strasser now
thoroughly distrust Hitler, believing that he is angling for a position
in the military government, and is planning to sell them out to the
conservatives. Hitler is, indeed, looking for an office within the
Generals’ inner circle, hoping to sabotage from within their efforts to
restore prosperity to Germany, then take the first available opportunity
to seize power. The Generals rebuff Hitler’s overtures.

Locked out of power, with seemingly no way in, Hitler bides his time and
considers his options.

*Part the Third: Consolidation, Placation, and Conspiracy*

Throughout early 1932, the Generals consult with and reassure the powers
that be in Germany: big business, the Catholic political parties, the
Junkers and the Church. The heads of the major industrial concerns back
the troika with enthusiasm, especially after hearing about the regime’s
economic plans. The large landowners are told that junta has no land
reform agenda and will continue protectionist policies against
agricultural imports. The "Vons" happily sign on.

The Catholic political parties continue to refuse to return to the
Reichstag. The parties are in disarray, however, and cannot mount any
serious opposition. The Catholic hierarchy backs the Generals, taking
much of the popular enthusiasm out of their parties’ opposition. The
Protestant churches’ fears are ameliorated after they hear that, unlike
the NSDAP, the Generals plan to leave religious and moral issues to the
religious authorities.

Groener reorganizes the police power in Germany: by decree, the state
police forces are dissolved and replaced by a large paramilitary
gendarme controlled by the Berlin government.

Von Papen, the Generals’ new foreign minister, makes the rounds in the
European capitals, reassuring France and Britain that Germany has no
designs "contrary to the interests of justice and peace in Europe."
Meeting secretly with Molotov, Von Papen and the Soviet Commissar agree
to continue Germany’s secret military cooperation with the USSR.

The only organized political forces in Germany that continue to stand
against the regime are the NSDAP, the Social Democrats (backed by the
powerful labor unions) and the Communists. The generals turn on the
unions first.

May 1, 1932: on international labor day, the junta hammers the unions.
With thousands of workers in the streets, Army units raid various union
headquarters, seizing the buildings and the membership records. The
government also confiscates the labor unions’ bank accounts, promising
to hold them in trust for the "German workers" and out of the "grasping
hands of the internationalist, communist-controlled union leadership."
Labor leaders are arrested. The junta founds new "national" (i.e.
government-controlled) unions, which work hand in glove with big
business. The power of the once-powerful German labor organizations is
broken. With their collapse, the Social Democrat and Socialist parties
fold as effective organizations.

Only the NSDAP remains. The Party leadership is split: the breaking of
labor has outraged Strasser and Roehm, who again demand to take the
brownshirts into the streets against the Army. Hitler is in a quandary:
out in the cold with the regime and lacking any alternatives. His grip
on the party is slipping. Goering and Goebbels back Hitler, but their
enthusiasm is waning during the months of inactivity.

Having baited the trap, L-V springs it. On October 15, he issues a
decree banning all paramilitary organizations (excepting the Stahlhelm,
which is deputized as an auxiliary to the police). At a meeting of the
top Nazi leadership, Roehm and Strasser confront Hitler. They demand
action. Hitler is alone; Goering and Goebbels avoid the meeting. The SD
leadership have their way and plans for a Nazi putsch are in the making.

*Part the Fourth: Caught Flat-Footed*

On October 16, Roehm calls on the Brownshirts to assemble in Berlin,
Nuremberg, and Munich on October 18 to protest the ban. The Generals
cannot believe their luck, and begin assembling the Reichswehr, the
Stahlhelm and the paramilitary police to attack and seize the SA when it
assembles.

Roehm, however, is too clever by half, and on midnight the night of the
seventeenth, he and hundreds of heavily armed Brownshirts invade the
Reichstag, the Defense Ministry buildings, the Chancery and the
Presidential palace. Groener is caught napping and is captured by the
SA. With the help of his bodyguards, L-V shoots his way out of the
Chancery and flees to the safety of the Potsdam garrison. Von Seeckt is
killed in the battle for the Presidential palace.

Groener is held hostage as Strasser and his troops seize a radio station
and broadcast a call to all SA units in the country to march on Berlin
and battle the "reactionary forces who have subverted the army and
oppressed the German workers." The next morning, tens of thousands of
Brownshirts are seizing trains and trucks and making their way to
Berlin. Some units, who had already arrived for the "protest" invade and
take over the municipal buildings in Munich and Nuremberg. All over
Germany, the SA is running riot, smashing Jewish homes and businesses
and attacking the police, Army, and Stahlhelm units.

Roehm, now joined by Hitler, Goering and Goebbels, (belated converts
when success seems near) proclaims the dissolution of the military
government and the formation of a new cabinet, which will exercise
legislative powers "until new elections can be held" at some unspecified
date.

L-V, however, is telegraphing (the SA has not cut the lines) and
radioing orders from Potsdam to Army and police units throughout the
Reich. The police are to suppress the local SA insurgents, while all
available Reichswehr units are to converge on Berlin.

Throughout October 18, the junta’s counterattack is in full sway, with
the police and their Stahlhelm auxiliaries battling the Brownshirts in
every major city in Germany. Machinegun and rifle fire blaze in streets.
Hundreds are killed on both sides as governmental forces retake the
central Munich police station and municipal buildings. The police attack
in Nuremberg is ill-coordinated, and the rebels repulse the police from
behind barricades. Government aircraft, the fruits of the secret
cooperation with the Russians, strafe and in some cases bomb, trains
carrying SA units to Berlin.

In Berlin, thirty thousand Brownshirts, under Strasser’s personal
command, take up positions at key points throughout the city. Most are
armed with rifles and a scattering of machineguns and mortars, either
from the Nazis stockpile or from armories looted in the city. Thousands
of others, however, wield nothing but pipes and "Goebbels cocktails."

At three a.m. in the morning on the nineteenth, the Army attacks.
General Kurt von Schleicher commands the assault [point of AH irony: in
OTL, he was killed by the SS during the "Night of the Long Knives"].
Dozens of armored cars (also developed in coordination with the
Russians) spearhead the assault, followed by storm troopers armed with
rifles, submachine guns and flamethrowers. Artillery is called in to
reduce SA street barricades. Berliners hunker down in their cellars and
await the outcome of the civil war raging in the streets above.

*Part the Fifth: Denouement at Nuremberg*

October 19-21: In Berlin, the Army fights its way towards the
governmental complex, street by street and house by house. Spurred on by
Strasser’s battlefield leadership, the SA puts up vigorous resistance,
even though it is hopelessly outgunned by the Reichswehr. The Army’s
tanks and armored cars, as well as superior fire discipline, tell the
tale, and by nightfall on the twentieth, the government forces are
closing in on the Reichstag buildings, as well as the Presidential
palace and the Chancery.

Leading from the front, Strasser is killed in the fighting. In the
Presidential palace, panic reigns: the Nazi conspirators know that they
face the hangman’s noose if captured, and their hopes of defection by
the younger Reichswehr officers have been dashed. Goebbels and Goering
favor fleeing to Rome and forming a government in exile. Hitler,
however, refuses to leave German soil. Personal relations among the Nazi
leadership collapse, and they decide to split up to lessen the risk of
the whole group being captured at once.

On the morning of October 21, Hitler flees east, and eventually makes
his way to Danzig. Goebbels and Goering head south, making it eventually
to Switzerland and then on to Fascist Italy. Roehm, refusing to give up
hope, escapes Berlin in disguise, hoping to make his way to Nuremberg.
He is spotted by an Army patrol outside the city and captured.

Abandoned and leaderless, SA resistance in Berlin collapses, and L-V
enters the city, personally raising the German flag over the
Presidential Palace while surrounded by cheering soldiers and civilians.
Newsreel footage of this event is shown throughout the nation, and, on
the twenty-first, once an operable radio station is found, L-V proclaims
to the nation that the Army is once again in control of the capitol.

On October 22, the Brownshirts in Nuremberg, who had been successfully
holding off the police and the Stahlhelm, learn that Strasser is dead
and Roehm captured, surrender. In the parts of the city under SA
control, corpses of Jews are found hanging from the lampposts, their
homes and shops sacked and burned by the SA. Middle class Germany
recoils in horror at the newsreel footage of the murdered civilians.

L-V, now in undisputed control of the government, forces Groener’s
resignation ("on grounds of ill-health" due to injuries suffered at the
hands of his Nazi captors), Von Schleicher replaces him as Defense
Minister, and by a unanimous vote of the puppet Reichstag (voting in the
ruins; a very dramatic scene) L-V assumes the Presidency as well as the
Chancellorship.

Martial law is now further tightened. All major offenses are tried by
military courts, and all Nazi publications are suspended indefinitely.
The surviving SA members are forced to renounce their allegiance to the
NSDAP, and membership in the Nazi party is declared to be an capital
offense.

The funeral for von Seeckt is suitably elaborate for the fallen
President, and Roehm’s show trial is spectacular. The Nazi menace is put
on full display, in radio broadcasts, newspapers, and newsreels. L-V has
the public fully behind him for his crackdown on what remains of the NSDAP.

Hitler is in hiding in Danzig, where the free city government promises
L-V to extradite him if he can be found. Goebbels and Goering continue
their farcical government in exile from Rome. Mussolini, in a display of
fraternal good will to his fellow fascists, refuses multiple German
deportation requests. Roehm is executed in December.

Heinrich Himmler, leader of the SS, takes overall command of the NSDAP,
and begins laying the groundwork for a covert Nazi movement.

*Part the Sixth: Quiet Times and a Modest Proposal *

Firmly ensconced as head of state as well as head of government,
Lettow-Vorbeck now starts to pay back the chits he had outstanding. To
the big industrial concerns, he gives a wholesale repeal of the
antitrust laws, and grants industry organizations the power to jointly
set prices and wages. Strikes are effectively outlawed by decrees that
only the "official" labor unions can call them and, as noted previously,
these are effectively arms of government and big business. Public works
projects are instituted, sopping up some of the unemployed labor, and
both industry and the military clamber for rearmament, but L-V insists
upon waiting for the international situation to improve.

During the Nazi putsch, L-V had moved troops into cities in the
demilitarized Rhineland. L-V contacted French President Lebrun, and
informed him that the troops were present for internal security purposes
only. After the crisis passes, L-V again contacts Lebrun, and argues
that the troops must remain in the Rhineland, lest it become a "hotbed
of Nazi and Communist agitation." Renaud reluctantly agrees after L-V
assures him that no tanks or heavy artillery will be moved into the
area. L-V thus accomplishes two things: the British are furious at the
French for not being consulted, and the Rhineland is remilitarized
without fanfare and without crisis. The acknowledgement that Germany has
a few "armored security vehicles," as they are referred to, does not
unduly disturb the French or British, although they are exist in
apparent violation of the Versailles Treaty.

In the international arena, Germany plays the role of model European
citizen. L-V declares on a number of state occasions that his primary
goal is recovery from the Depression and restoration of "law and order"
to Germany. When pressed, he declines to promise the Powers that Germany
is disinterested in restoring its pre-1918 borders, but suggests that he
cannot give such assurances for domestic political reasons, "Should I
make such a statement aloud," L-V tells Anthony Eden, "the Army would
have me on the street in a fortnight." Privately, he approaches the
French and British leadership and suggests common cooperation against
"fascist and communist agitation and subversion."

Germany maintains its distance from fascist Italy. L-V frequently refers
to Mussolini as "that strutting ape," and comments that he and his old
African unit could be in Rome while the Italian army was still putting
its boots on. German military cooperation continues with the Russians,
although L-V is rapidly losing enthusiasm for the project. "Working with
that atheist Georgian bank-robber, as L-V refers to Stalin, "demeans
Germany and makes me feel dirty."

In May, 1933, L-V feels secure enough in his power to make a foreign
trip. He travels to London, where he meets with Eden and discusses the
overall European situation. He also meets with his old adversary from
the African campaigns, Jan Smuts. L-V makes a very favorable impression
on the British public, especially after his amiable and nostalgic
reunion with Smuts. British hospitality also impresses L-V, and he
leaves with very strong feelings towards England.

On May 16, Franklin Roosevelt proposes a general reduction in armaments,
including a total ban on bombers and tanks. The next day, L-V addresses
the Reichstag and announces that Germany accepts President Roosevelt’s
proposal and is willing to join in any "general armament reduction regime."

Of all the world leaders, L-V notes, only he knows first-hand the
"terrors" and "horrible waste of war."

"Germany is already effectively disarmed," L-V states, "and it would
welcome equality with other states in abolishing the scourge of armed
conflict forever." L-V’s comrades in the Reichswehr are horrified.
Immediately after L-V’s speech, plans for another coup are in the making.

*Part the Seventh: Told You So.*

Throughout May and June of 1933, Lettow-Vorbeck stumps for disarmament.
In the Saar, temporarily detached from the Reich and scheduled to have a
referendum on its status in 1935, L-V states publicly that Germany will
abide by the outcome of the vote and, that Germany "has no desire for
one square inch of French soil, including Alsace-Lorraine." Since
"Germany has no quarrel with France, France should not fear disarmament
. . . unless France has some quarrel with Germany."

Von Papen visits Washington and meets with Roosevelt, who welcomes
Germany’s "conversion to the cause of peace." The European powers are
markedly less enthusiastic. Peace organizations in France and Britain
stage rallies in favor of the treaty, but both governments consider ways
to reject the agreement while appeasing public opinion.

On June 21, Japan formally rejects the disarmament proposal. This
provides the French and British the excuse they need. The British state
that they must "regretfully" decline the proposal. The next week the
French also decline to discuss disarmament.

On June 30, L-V again addresses the Reichstag. He rues that "the hand
that Germany extended to Europe has been refused."

"If Germany and the other powers cannot be equally disarmed," L-V
states, "then Germany and Europe must be equally armed." Germany’s
signature to the Versailles Treaty’s arms-limitation provisions is to be
considered "withdrawn" from this day forward. "Germany will rearm,
consistent with her dignity and position in Europe."

This is the big gamble. If the Western Powers act decisively, Germany,
even with its secret arms programs, will be helpless.

Shortly after the speech, the German ambassador in London approaches the
British government and proposes an agreement: Germany will unilaterally
limit its navy to 35% the size of the Royal Navy. The British grasp this
proposal, and within a week, the Anglo-German Naval Accord is signed.
Abandoned by the British, the French protest German rearmament, but do
not move.

Under the pretext of discussing the military buildup, L-V calls into his
office the leadership of the General Staff, which was involved in the
conspiracy against him: von Fritch, Blomberg, and Keitel. He confronts
them with their "treasonous behavior" and demands an "explanation." The
three generals confess their plot. In the old days, L-V says sternly,
they would find a pistol in each of their desks, and no further
discussion would be necessary. Magnanimously, and to the Generals’
astonishment, L-V pardons them, because, he says, they acted in what
they thought was in the best interests of the Reich. The Generals pledge
their "eternal loyalty" to L-V.

With both the government and the Army in his back pocket, L-V commits
Germany to building up its military in full view of the world. With the
renunciation of the Versailles "diktat," his standing soars ever higher
with the German public.

*Part the Eighth: Intermezzo*

1933-35: Lettow-Vorbeck concentrates on two things: the buildup of the
German Army and preempting any British and French sanctions for the
buildup. He scrupulously adheres to the provisions of the Anglo-German
Naval Accord. L-V’s concern is not with the Navy: "The Kaiser’s biggest
mistake," he confides to von Fritch, "was attempting to challenge
British naval supremacy. It alienated England, and when the day of
decision came, meant nothing." Besides, the Army needs the money. No
heavy (i.e. seagoing) submarines are laid down, but keels, engines and
equipment are secretly stockpiled. He buys off the Navy with a couple of
showpiece battleships and one aircraft carrier, the /Tirpitz/, which he
christens himself in 1935.

German unemployment plummets as the buildup roars on. Tanks and guns
roll of the Krupp assembly lines at a furious pace. The German Army Air
Corps comes out of hiding, equipped with the latest fighters and
bombers. Work begins, also, on the Western Wall, the series of
fortifications near the border with France. In May of 1934, L-V takes a
momentous step: he reinstitutes conscription. The French and British are
strangely quiescent.

The Nazis, under Himmler’s leadership, but technically loyal to the
"government in exile" in Rome, begin a terrorist campaign aimed at
causing the regime to become intolerably oppressive, and thereby
triggering a general uprising. Bombs detonate at police stations,
governmental offices, and officer’s quarters. The regime institutes
swift countermeasures, resulting in the arrests and incarceration
(without warrant or trial) of hundreds of suspected Nazis. Infiltration
of the Nazi underground is difficult because it is divided into cells,
but information gathered seems to point to the movement receiving
support from abroad.

In foreign policy, L-V continues to make a show of seeking disarmament,
confident that none of the other great powers will take him up on his
offer. He also issues feelers to the World War One Allies, seeking the
return of Germany’s former colonies. All his initiatives are rebuffed.
Nonetheless, he makes special efforts to cozy up to England, where he is
a Conservative Party favorite for his strong anti-communist and
anti-fascist stands and the naval treaty.

The European situation remains largely calm until late 1934, when
Italian troops clash with Ethiopian forces at Ualval, beginning
Mussolini’s conquest of one of the last independent parts of Africa. On
January 7, 1935, the Laval government in France secretly agrees to let
Italy take Ethiopia. By mid-February, the Italians’ offensive is in full
swing.

Lettow-Vorbeck, seizing the opportunity to further improve relations
with Great Britain, backs a League of Nations resolution condemning
Italian aggression and proposing trade sanctions against the Italians.
With German backing, the British close the Suez canal to Italian
shipping. The logistical situation of the Italian forces becomes
increasingly pinched.

In 1935, after a decisive plebiscite vote, the Saar rejoins Germany.
Lettow-Vorbeck, who is from the area himself, addresses a huge rally
after the election, promising that Germany is "on the road to greatness"
and that the other nations of Europe need fear nothing from Germany,
since a stable Reich is a peaceful Reich. After the Saar plebiscite,
German communities in other territories lost after World War 1 begin
organizing and agitating for similar treatment.

With military cooperation with the Soviets abruptly ended, relations
between German and the USSR cool decisively. L-V’s public rhetoric grows
decisively anti-Soviet. Germany’s relationship with Mussolini’s Italy
are even colder; each Nazi terrorist attack generates a new German
demand that the Nazi leadership be extradited, or at least expelled,
from Italy. Mussolini steadfastly refuses, thus preserving his image as
leadership of international fascism and a strongman capable of standing
up to foreign "reactionary" powers.

Hitler continues to live a fugitive’s existence in Danzig, where he is
hunted by an increasing numbers of German agents infiltrated into the
free city.

*Part the Ninth: Isolate and Neutralize*

1935-1936: With the revelation of the Laval-Mussolini agreement on
Ethiopia, the break between France and Britain is complete. The Royal
Navy, reinforced by German vessels, stares down the Italian threat in
the Mediterranean. The French participate in the League of Nations
boycott of Italy, double-crossing Mussolini, but the effort is led by
the Anglo-German "entente." In 1936, Chamberlain assumes the Prime
Ministership. Their supply situation growing desperate, and the
Ethiopians receiving additional supplies and munitions from the League
powers, the Italian forces under Bagdolio retreat into Italian
Somaliland. With the disgrace of defeat, Bagdolio is forced to resign,
the scapegoat for the Duce’s failure. However, events arise that offer
Mussolini an opportunity to salvage Italy’s prestige.

In July of 1936, the Spanish Moroccan garrison mutinies against the
leftist Madrid government. The revolt, led by General Francisco Franco,
begins the Spanish Civil War. Mussolini, seizing the opportunity to
expand his influence, backs the rebels. After much heated domestic
debate, France and Great Britain call for non-intervention and propose
an international arms embargo. Stalin backs the Spanish government and
rushes aid to the Republican forces.

Lettow-Vorbeck is torn: he wants to contain Bolshevism, but also desires
to stay in good with the Western powers and despises Mussolini. He
overrides the opinions of several of his top advisors and throws in with
France and England in backing the arms embargo. Notwithstanding the
efforts of what people in the know are calling The Big Three (Germany,
the United Kingdom, and France), Franco’s forces and their Italian
allies continue to push the Republicans back towards Madrid.

Towards the end of 1936, however, it is events in Eastern Europe that
capture the attention of Europe. The German agents that have been
hunting for Hitler have been moonlighting: the Free City of Danzig rises
against its League government.

*Parts 10 to

*Part the Tenth: Too Clever by Half*

On December 21, 1936, the German citizens of Danzig, inspired and
organized by German agents, seize control of the Free City’s League of
Nations government. Armed mobs hold the streets as the "Interim
Government" declares the city to be an "inseparable part of the German
Reich." A plebiscite is called for January 1 to finally confirm Danzig’s
status as German territory.

Predictably, the Poles are outraged, and call for the League to condemn
the uprising and authorize the Polish Army to retake Danzig. In Berlin,
Lettow-Vorbeck calls an emergency cabinet meeting. His blood is up:
angry at the unauthorized actions of his agents, but absolutely
unwilling to accept Polish intervention in Danzig. He sees the crisis as
a prime opportunity to settle accounts with Poland, which holds not only
the Corridor, but also a substantial part of the former German state of
Posen, as well as upper Silesia, which had voted in a 1921 plebiscite to
rejoin Germany, only to have its wishes overruled by the League.

L-V’s generals, however are more timid. A general assault upon Poland
could provoke Russian intervention, as well as possible hostilities with
France, which has an alliance with the Poles. The debate among the
German leadership rages on well into the night, but by daybreak, they
have a plan.

On December 23, Germany and Great Britain block a League of Nations
resolution introduced by Poland, which would sanction intervention in
Danzig to crush the rebellion. Lettow-Vorbeck’s pro-British policy is
paying dividends, and Chamberlain is eager to please his German friends.
The League instead calls for a cooling off period until after the New
Year. Pilsudski’s government, however, is unwilling to wait: each day
that the Danzigers control their city makes it more unlikely that the
pre-rebellion status quo will be restored. Citing its authority to
govern Danzig’s external affairs, on December 26, Poland mobilizes to
put down the uprising and prevent the plebiscite. The Germans mobilize
the same day, and the Army that had been so carefully forged, in secret
and in public, over the proceeding fifteen years now masses on the
Polish frontier.

The years fade away from Lettow-Vorbeck; he has not felt this young
since his Africa days. This is his moment. Finally, action.

"At his heels, leashed in like hounds, fire, sword and famine crouch for
employment."

*Part the Eleventh: But You Try some Time, You Just Might Find . . .*

Having committed itself publicly to violating a League of Nations
resolution, Poland finds itself virtually friendless. They are as
suspicious of the Russians as they are of the Germans, and peremptorily
reject tentative offers of help from Stalin. The Czechs send out feelers
offering a common front, but will only act with Russian assistance.

In Britain, Chamberlain is mortified by what he has inadvertently
wrought and furious at the Poles for not accepting the cooling-off
period. He dispatches Lord Halifax, his Foreign Secretary, to Warsaw to
try to talk some sense into Pilsudski and the colonels who are running
Poland.

The French are divided; Poland is a critical part of the "Little
Entente" aimed at limiting German ambitions, but Britain declines their
offer for concerted action, preferring to seek a negotiated solution
between Germany and Poland, rather than an ultimatum or military action.
The French refuse to move without the British.

On December 28, Colonel Beck, the Polish Foreign Secretary, rejects
Halifax’s overtures, demanding the unconditional return of Danzig to its
government. The British emissary departs in disgust the next day.

On New Year’s Day, the people of Danzig vote overwhelmingly for
unification with Germany. It is not a surprise, since most of the
non-Germans have either fled or been driven out of the city. The next
day, Lettow-Vorbeck speaks on German radio: he accepts the outcome of
the plebiscite, and, directs the Reichstag to vote on the readmission of
the free city to Germany. He calls upon the Poles accede to the vote.
The Polish government does not respond to his speech.

Three more days of desperate crisis-avoidance work by the British is to
no avail. The Germans will not demobilize unless the Poles accept
Danzig’s incorporation into the Reich. The Poles insist upon their right
to crush the uprising.

At dawn on January 5, armored units of the German Army roll into the
Polish Corridor like a shockwave and straight into the mud and snow of
the Polish winter. The tanks and armored vehicles bog down, but the
infantry charges onward.

On January 6, Lettow-Vorbeck gives a major speech to the Reichstag. He
states that Germany was acting "solely to protect the right of
self-determination of the Germanic peoples in Poland." Germany, he
states, has no territorial ambitions in Poland, but "cannot turn our
backs on our brothers, who have called upon us for help." It is the
intention of the German government, L-V declares, to "act in accordance
with the wishes of those Germans trapped in Poland through the iniquity
of the Versailles diktat." Germany has no other ambitions in Poland, he
again states, "but should the Polish government continue its aggression
and international gangsterism, it is Poland, not Germany, that will be
responsible for the consequences."

The bulk of the German Army is still assembling on the western border of
Poland. The vast majority of the Polish Army is not yet in uniform, and
their mobilization is being hampered by widespread German air attacks.

When news of the invasion and L-V’s speech reaches Upper Silesia, the
German population takes to the streets in a replay of the Danzig’s
uprising. Such German units that are available roll into the region,
virtually unopposed except for some Polish border troops.

The Germans converge on the Corridor from both East and West Prussia.
Heavy and light bombers smash what few Polish units have made it into
position, and the converging waves of German infantry sweep them up. The
troops from East Prussia sweep west, then north, entering Danzig on
January 8. The troops from West Prussia move east, then south, taking up
positions at the entrance to the Corridor.

On January 9, the Soviets present the German Ambassador with a note for
Lettow-Vorbeck. Crudely put, Stalin states that, if there is going to be
a "general alteration of the Polish situation," the Soviets have
interests that "it will not hesitate to protect" with regards to the
eastern part of Poland. The note concludes with an invitation for
Germany and the USSR to come to an "accommodation with regard to the
future status of Poland." The note appalls L-V. "Just what kind of a man
does this guttersnipe think I am," he asks in a cabinet meeting, "that I
would denounce communists publicly for years, then climb into bed with
them over Poland? What would Germany think? What would Europe think?" He
pockets Stalin’s missive, not bothering with a reply.

Lettow-Vorbeck has baited the trap for the Poles: they will certainly
fight on, and international opinion will blame them for the continuation
and escalation of the conflict. (already numerous newspapers in Britain
have denounced the Poles for flouting the League of Nations and
pronounced L-V’s demands "highly reasonable, under the circumstances.").
With international public opinion on his side, he will be free to
"secure Germany’s eastern border," and ensure the safety of the hundreds
of thousands of Germans in Posen against Polish "oppression."

The colonels who run Poland’s government have other ideas: two days
later, they accept L-V’s original "proposal" and request a cease-fire.

*Part the Twelfth: What Happened is This . . .*

British operatives in the Germany embassy in Moscow had intercepted
Stalin’s note on January 10. Chamberlain’s government, seizing the
opportunity to scare the Poles into an armistice, passes it off to the
Polish ambassador in London. It works beautifully. After a rancorous
two-day debate within the Polish leadership, the peace faction prevails,
to avoid a general dismemberment, or even dissolution, of the country.

On January 14, the British-brokered cease fire takes effect. One week
later, the "German-Polish Border Treaty" is signed in Berlin. Poland
cedes the Corridor and Upper Silesia to Germany. A League of Nations
resolution is issued, granting Germany complete sovereignty over Danzig.
The Germans in Posen are granted the option of obtaining dual
citizenship, and the right to have the German consul’s office intervene
in any affairs between them and the Polish authorities.

Lettow-Vorbeck, in private, was furious. He denounced the Poles as
"cowards", but had no option to accept. In public, he led the Germans in
the jubilant "reunification" of the Fatherland. Special trains are
chartered to transit the Corridor, traveling, for the first time since
1919, solely on German soil. The Danzigers and Silesians are ecstatic.

The Nazis, of course, are furious as well. Their communiqu�s denounce
the "betrayal" of the Germans in Posen. Substantial numbers of hard-line
junior officers, particularly in those units that did not get to
participate in the fighting, agree. The Nazis vow to step up their
terrorist campaign, targeting the "January Criminals."

The German Navy captured Hitler as he attempted to escape from Danzig by
sea. His treason trial, like Roehm’s, is another public spectacle. Years
in hiding have not been kind to what little of Hitler’s sanity there was
to begin with. His defense is a rant against the Jews, the Aristocracy
and the Army. He gives a full public exposition of the ideas he put
forth in Mein Kampf.

L-V is amused and disgusted by Hitler’s "ideology." The idea that
Germans would settle in their "lebensraum" strikes him as particularly
hilarious. "Imagine Frau and Herr Schmidt," he chortles, "leaving their
apartment and radio behind and settling in the ‘Wild East.’ Perhaps they
would carry six-shooters to battle Red Cossacks instead of Red Indians."
He notes that few Germans ever settled in Germany’s African territories.
The whole idea of Germans forming wagon-trains and moving onto some new
frontier, he states, is ludicrous.

Hitler’s vicious anti-Semitism repulses many Germans. His testimony
produces a backlash against anti-Jewish sentiment, associating it with
treason and Nazi fanaticism.

His spleen vented, Hitler keeps his September First date with an Army
firing-squad without further public comment. Within the NSDAP movement,
he is elevated to martyr status, and the Party steps up its terrorist
campaign. It also continues recruitment in Austria, the Sudetenland and
the Posen area in Poland.

The remainder of 1937 is comparatively peaceful in Europe, but there is
frantic diplomatic activity afoot. The French government, finally coming
to grips with the fact that the British are acting on different
priorities, flails about, seeking eastern partners against German power
and ambition. Confidential negotiations begin between the Soviets, the
Czechs and the French. The Poles (deeply suspicious of Stalin’s
ambitions for eastern Poland) adamantly refuse to participate in any
arrangement that includes the Russians.

Lettow-Vorbeck, hearing of the negotiations, plays his trump card: he
publishes Stalin’s January 9 note. The British government confirms its
authenticity. The French, who were unaware of the Soviet leader’s
proposal for the partition of Poland, are stunned. The extreme
anti-Soviet reaction of the French public makes any Franco-Soviet
alliance a political impossibility. Poincare settles for a defensive
alliance with Poland and Czechoslovakia. The Allies agree that they will
come to each others’ aid if one country is the victim of "unprovoked
aggression."

L-V speaks to the Reichstag, on the "European situation." He explains
his rejection of the Soviet offer to partition Poland by stating that
"he would not see the hammer and sickle moved one inch closer to the
heart of Germany."

"Though the Polish government undertook a foolish and dangerous course
of action," with regards to Danzig, L-V states, "I have nothing but
respect for the Polish people, and would not sell them to the slaughter
and enslavement of Stalinist barbarism." He also decries the French
attempt to "encircle" Germany, yet again, and reiterates that Germany
has no argument with France.

The comparison of Stalin’s (attempted) rapacity and L-V’s
(secretly-unwilling) "restraint" is not missed in Europe.

In contrast to Europe, the world situation is not at all quiet. The
Japanese are running amok in China. In response, Germany, France, the UK
and the US take steps to isolate Japan from access to needed raw
materials. Germany continues its profitable relationship with the
Nationalist Chinese government, which is a significant purchaser of
German arms and equipment.

As 1938 dawns, the virulence of the Nazi terrorism shakes Germany to its
roots: on January 20, German Defense Minister General Von Schleicher and
twenty-five others are killed when a bomb rocks the Kiel Opera House
during a performance of Karl Orff's /Carmina Burana/. L-V leads the
nation in mourning the fallen Defense Minister, and demands that efforts
be redoubled to tear up the Nazi movement "root and branch."

The investigation of the incident points south, to a NSDAP cell in
Vienna . . .



*Part the Thirteenth: O, Fortuna!*

The anti-Nazi terror in Germany now kicks into high gear. Real and
suspected Nazis are rounded up by the thousands, and soon the prisons
are overflowing. The establishment of "concentration camps" (KZs) for
NSDAP suspects is begun. Torture and execution are authorized for
civilians who are proven to be "active" in the NSDAP. Officers and
soldiers in the Army are dealt with by summary courts-martial. Many
officers are forced to resign over real or suspected Nazi sympathies or
affiliations. Some are consigned to special KZs for military prisoners.

With the police closing in, Himmler and Heydrich are forced to flee
Germany, winding up eventually in Italy, where they join the rump Nazi
government in exile. The leadership of the Nazi Party in Germany is
broken, and the membership ruthlessly hounded, dead, or in KZ.

The crackdown makes life problematical for Lettow-Vorbeck. Many of his
right-wing allies are alienated by the persecution of so many Nazi
"sympathizers," who are also active in more "respectable" pan-German and
anti-communist organizations. Also, the involvement of Nazi cells
outside of Germany makes some sort of response imperative. L-V had been
planning to keep things quiet on the foreign-affairs front with the
hopes that anti-German sentiment in France would die down, facilitating
some sort of Franco-German rapprochement. L-V decides he can placate his
domestic allies and deal a death blow to his foreign enemies at the same
time.

Von Papen is dispatched to Prague, where he meets with Czech President
Benes. With surprising frankness, he explains L-V’s dillema: There are
many people, powerful people, in Germany upon whose support L-V relies,
Von Papen states. And to many of these people, the very existence of
Czechoslovakia is "intolerable." At the minimum, they demand the
incorporation of the Sudeten Germans into the Reich. Benes interrupts,
and refuses to even discuss the dismemberment of his country. Von Papen
is placatory: L-V himself, does not want the Sudeten Germans, he assures
him, because they are "suffused" with the "virus" of National Socialism.
What L-V wants, he says, is some sort of agreement that he can take back
to Berlin to show that he is concerned with the Sudetenlanders.

A week of negotiations follows. Von Papen and Benes finally agree to the
following: (1) the Sudeten Germans are allowed dual citizenship in
Czechoslovakia; (2) German consuls are allowed to intervene in matters
concerning the Sudeten Germans and the Czech government; (3) the
Sudetenland is granted greater autonomy over cultural and local affairs.

In return, Germany guarantees the boundaries of Czechoslovakia, not only
against further German demands, but also any other states. (Benes was
justifiably concerned that Poland and Hungary may follow the German lead
and press for greater rights for Polish and Hungarian minorities.
Germany agrees to help the Czechs resist these demands.) A secret
codicil to the treaty ensures Czech-German cooperation in suppressing
any subversive activity in the Sudetenland. Most importantly, any
Sudeten NSDAP members will be deported to Germany for prosecution.

When announced, the agreement is greeted with satisfaction by the
majority of the German public and dismay by the French government. They
had just expended a great deal of effort enlisting the Czechs in an
anti-German alliance, and Benes makes a separate agreement with Germany!
Benes was fully aware of the effect his treaty would have on the French,
but he was skeptical from the beginning that the French would throw
themselves against the German West Wall to try to save Czechoslovakia.

The pan-Germans (including those in the Army) are of mixed opinion about
the treaty: it does (as far as they know) benefit the Sudetenlanders,
but the guarantee of Czech sovereignty angers them. On the other hand,
L-V has effectively broken the French encirclement. Confusion and
dissention over the treaty reign in the upper echelons of the German
Right. Hardliners are furious, and moderates support "their General."

L-V is knows about the reception that the treaty is getting, but it is
just setting the stage for the next act.

On February 28, he summons Fascist Austria’s leader Engelbert Dollfuss
for personal talks on "the question of Austria’s relationship with
Germany."

The talks are to be held in Munich . . .

*Part the Fourteenth: Loose Ends and Brass Knuckles*

The Munich meeting between Dollfuss and Lettow-Vorbeck is, shall we say,
unpleasant. L-V begins by politely expressing his "concern" that
low-level Austrian officials are winking at Nazi operations in Austria.
Dollfuss protests that the NSDAP is illegal in Austria and that many
Nazis currently reside in Austrian prison. L-V dismisses Dollfuss’
protestations with a waive of his hand, noting that his Defense Minister
was murdered by the supposedly-suppressed Austrian Nazis. Dollfuss
retorts that no police force is perfect, and Germany cannot seriously
expect that Austria will round up every Nazi. Icily calm, L-V replies
that he does not expect perfection, but he does also not expect the
Austrian government to sit idly by while Nazi murderers slaughter his
cabinet. Efforts by the Austrian "Fatherland Front" fascist government
up to this point have been mere "window dressing" designed to fool the
Germans into thinking the Austrians were concerned about the Nazi
menace. He implies that Germany suspects that Mussolini had a hand in
the lax prosecution of the Nazis in Austria.

Sensing the very real danger here, Dollfuss calms down, and agrees that
further Austro-German cooperation against the NSDAP threat is called
for. Talks should be arranged between their respective foreign ministers
and security chiefs. Lettow-Vorbeck is not going to let him off the
hook. The only way, he states, to guarantee German security against the
Nazis is to ensure that they no longer have a "safe haven" on Germany’s
southern border. Therefore, states L-V, Germany will be assuming control
of Austria’s security for a period of one week, at the end of which
there will be a referendum in both Germany and Austria on whether the
two countries should be united.

Dollfuss is shocked. This is far from what he expected. He refuses. L-V
states that if Dollfuss declines to cooperate in ensuring the security
of Germany and Austria, he and his government will have to be removed
from the picture, and Germany’s borders and unity will be secured by
force. Similarly, if Austria attempts to involve third parties in an
intra-German dispute, the matter will inevitably be resolved by force of
arms.

If he accedes, L-V, the members of the Austrian regime will have some
role to play in "Greater Germany." The stick is now coupled with the
carrot. After hours of argument, at which both sides repeatedly threaten
to leave the discussion, Dollfuss agrees to take the proposal back to
Vienna.

After a long day of anguished discussions with the Austrian President,
Dollfuss returns to Munich, where the two leaders announce their
"agreement." The world is stunned, no one more so than Mussolini.
Austria was within Italy’s sphere of influence, or so he thought, and
Italy was the leader of the "Stresa Front," guaranteeing Austrian
independence, which is now defunct because of the Duce’s Spanish and
Ethiopian adventures. He scrambles around, looking for allies. The
French are sympathetic to Italy’s plight (and suitably anxious about the
Anchluss), but the Duce has proven himself to be too much of a loose
cannon. The Czechs are also alarmed, but Von Papen is rapidly on the
scene, publicly reiterating Germany’s commitment to Czechoslovakia. The
subtext is, of course, if the Czechs back Mussolini, all bets are off.

As German paramilitary police march into Vienna, Count Ciano arrives in
Berlin. Mussolini wants a meeting with Lettow-Vorbeck. Rather
distastefully, L-V agrees. A date is set for the two leaders to meet at
the Brenner Pass.

*Part the Fifteenth: Take a Meeting*

The leaders of Italy and Germany meet at an inn on the Brenner Pass at
the border of Austria and Italy to discuss the Austrian situation. The
most startling fact is that the Austrian government is excluded from the
talks. Ciano had wanted Dollfuss there, but Lettow-Vorbeck had refused.

After the pleasantries (mostly between the respective foreign ministers)
are concluded, Mussolini launches into a tirade of real and imagined
indignities that Germany has heaped upon Italy: backing the British over
Ethiopia and Spain top the list. Lettow-Vorbeck listens impassively, his
arms crossed in front of his chest.

After several minutes of this, L-V stands up abruptly and announces that
if the Duce has dragged him here to listen to such ramblings, he has
wasted his time. L-V then makes to leave. Ciano fairly pleads with him
to stay and hear Mussolini out. Von Papen is enjoying himself
tremendously: clearly he is watching a master at work.

L-V sits back down, visibly reluctant and annoyed. Mussolini sulks; he
is not used to such treatment. Ciano turns the discussions towards the
topic at hand: Austria. When Ciano states that the proposed Anschluss is
a matter of "grave concern" for Italy, Mussolini interrupts, it is not a
matter of "grave concern" he fairly shouts, it is "unacceptable," and
incompatible with Italian "interests and prestige."

L-V shoots the Duce an icy stare, and states that if that is the Italian
position, then there is nothing further to discuss. The right of the
German Austrians to self-determination and unification with the Reich is
not a matter in which he will brook any foreign interference, he states
flatly. He had come here, he adds, to reassure the Italians that the
Anshluss did not pose a threat to them. "Obviously," L-V adds, "this was
a mistake since the Italian government is bent upon beginning a conflict
with Germany." If such is the circumstance, then he must return to
Berlin. He again stands up, as if to leave. Now it is Von Papen’s turn
to bring L-V back to the table. He quails at the thought of war with
Italy. The leaders both sit out the next part of the discussions.

Von Papen and Ciano begin discussing ways that the situation could be
turned to satisfy both Italy and Germany. Some sort of looser
confederation between Austria and Germany is a possibility, suggests
Ciano, other than outright annexation. L-V shakes his head at this.
Germany must be unified. After several hours of negotiations, during
which both sides repeatedly threaten to walk out, an agreement is
hammered out: if Austria votes to join Germany, there will be a one year
"interim period" during which Austria will be merely "federated" with
Germany. I.e., it will maintain a separate government, which will be
appointed by Germany, and its armed forces will not be integrated into
the German military. For that same period, the southern border of
Austria/Germany will be occupied only by infantry. Germany also will
state publicly that the Anschluss is not a first step towards the
seizure of the Italian South Tyrol region, and will not foment, nor
tolerate the fomentation, of disturbances by Tyrolean Germans under
Italian jurisdiction. In exchange, the Italians agree to accept the
Anschluss, grant additional privileges to the Tyroleans (such as
guarantees regarding language and cultural matters) and (in a secret
codicil agree that they will) will expel the Nazi "Government in Exile"
from Rome.

It is a measure of Italian weakness and isolation that the agreement
spends such time discussing the Tyrol, and comparatively little on
Austria proper. (Once the Italians brought up the issue of German
ambitions in South Tyrol, they opened the door to wider negotiations.)
Not only are the Italians forced to drop their opposition to the
annexation of Austria, but they are driven to make concessions regarding
their own territory as well. Mussolini is also ready to get rid of the
Nazis: they are trouble, and little profit. The limitations on the
forces that can be placed in South Austria are merely a face-saving
measure for Italy: the terrain is not suitable for large-scale tank
formations, and the treaty says nothing about defensive fortifications,
which could render Austria invulnerable to Italian attack.

The terms of the agreement are leaked to Goering and Goebbels, who flee
Rome for Mexico. Better to run than be kicked out.

Dollfuss resurfaces in Berlin as Special State Secretary for Austrian
Affairs, a position without power to match its title.

Referendum day comes, and 70% of the Austrians voting (under the
watchful eye of German police officers. Most of the liberals in Austria
were already in prison under the Dollfuss regime.) vote "yes." Around
99% of the Germans voting also favor the Anschluss. Again, reveling
Germans take to the streets. L-V watches a celebratory parade go by his
window. He is invincible.

*Part the Sixteenth: Too Quiet . . .*

The years 1939-1940 are comparatively quiet ones in Europe. The German
economy continues to recover from the effects of the Great Depression.
In February of 1939, Lettow-Vorbeck consults with Dr. Schacht, his
Minister of Finance. The military build-up has exploded the government’s
debt load. Schacht tells L-V that, unless spending is brought under
control, debt-service will require a massive tax increase, which will
have dire implications for the economy.

Over the objections of some of his more militant coalition partners, L-V
orders a scaling down of arms buildup. Plans for a second aircraft
carrier are scrapped, and a long-range heavy bomber program is
cancelled, reflecting the priorities of the Army generals who ultimately
control spending.

In France, the failure of the government to either act in the Austrian
crisis or bring an end to the Spanish Civil War has brought the right
out in force. In early 1939, the Blum government falls, dragging the
Popular Front down with it. Daladier takes over as Premier, but his
government is weak and divided. It is unable to cope with the
depression, much less assemble a coherent and forceful foreign policy.

In the Far East, the Japanese continue their rampage in China, hampered
only by the European embargo on oil sales. In 1940, the Americans join
the Europeans in refusing to sell oil to fuel the Japanese war machine.
Plans are in the offing to seize by force the resources that Japan needs
to continue its conquest. The Germans continue their profitable
arms-sales arrangement with the Nationalist Chinese.

The Germans are very busy closer to home. The twin goals of L-V’s
foreign policy after Austria are the containment of the Soviet Union in
eastern Europe and the continued alienation of France and England.
Italy, having been thwarted in the Austrian crisis, does not
significantly enter into his calculations, except as a tool to solidify
Anglo-German relations.

To isolate the Soviets, throughout 1939-40, L-V weaves a web of
alliances between Germany and the eastern European countries. Rumania,
Hungary, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Finland sign on in the first phase.
The Baltic states are too afraid of Stalin’s reaction to make a public
commitment to Germany, but sign a secret defense protocol in 1940.
Poland, still embittered about the loss of its territory, adamantly
refuses to join the German alliance system. France, weathering its own
internal crises, is unable to compete with the Germans for the loyalties
of the eastern countries. An eastern alliance had been part of L-V’s
anti-Soviet plans from the beginning, but the need to limit Germany’s
arms buildup has made alliances with other powers a necessity.

Stalin’s reaction to these events is furious. Again, the West is trying
to exclude Russia from Europe. There is little he can do, however,
because he dares not risk war with Germany over the issue. Hoping to
bypass the German alliance system, he orders the Communists in Spain to
shift tactics. Previously, they had been standing largely aloof from
their supposed partners in the fight against Franco. At Stalin’s
command, they now make common cause with the anarchists, syndicalists,
and other leftist forces struggling against the Fascists. Soviet aid to
the Republicans also increases markedly in both quality and quantity.
Republican aviators are brought to the USSR for training, and a
significant number of Soviet "volunteer" soldiers and pilots travel to
Spain.

L-V’s government is divided over how to respond to the greater Soviet
involvement in Spain. The hard-core anti-communists demand German
counterintervention. L-V is sympathetic, but sees clearly that
assistance to Franco would alienate the British and place Germany in
Mussolini’s camp, a prospect that he cannot abide. After weeks of
rancorous debate he hits upon a third option: he approaches France and
Britain with a proposal for the blockade of the combatants in Spain
against any outside assistance, Italian or Soviet.

The UK and France take some persuading, but by June of 1940, the
blockade is in place, under League of Nations auspices. Mussolini makes
a lot of noise about breaking the blockade, but, confronted with
Anglo-French naval supremacy in the Mediterranean, does nothing. Stalin,
on the other hand, makes little public fuss, and seeks alternative means
to supply the Republicans. For the left, the blockade is a blessing in
disguise: even at stepped-up levels, Soviet assistance never matched
Italian aid to the Fascists. Comintern agents are soon smuggling
significant amounts of arms, ammunition and equipment over the Pyrenees
to the Nationalist forces. A clique of right-wing French Army officers
does the same for the Fascists.

History is made in July, when the German fleet, including the /Tirpitz/,
traverses the English Channel on its way to blockade duty. The fleet
pays courtesy calls in Southampton and Calais. The Germans are greeted
warmly by the British and rather more coolly by the French. It takes up
station in the Mediterranean, where common cause softens the hostility
of French Naval officers.

In early 1939, German physicist Werner Heisenberg made contact with
Admiral Canaris, a high-ranking commander in the German navy and a
confidante of Lettow-Vorbeck. He stuns Canaris with the possibilities
that atomic power presents the German armed forces. Not only could it be
used to create munitions of unparalleled destructive power, but it could
propel naval vessels for great distances without the need for fueling
stations. An atomic-powered submarine, Heisenberg tells Canaris, could
remain underwater virtually indefinitely, generating its own power and air.

Canaris is, to say the least, intrigued by the prospect. Atomic power
could establish the German Navy as the most powerful branch of the armed
forces, breaking the stranglehold that the Army has had. He brings
Heisenberg to see L-V. The German leader is skeptical. Every day, he
says, he is besieged by men seeking funds for one fantastic project or
another. He reminds Canaris that Germany is strapped for cash. After a
second meeting, at which most of the preeminent physicists in Germany
attend, vouching for Heisenberg’s findings, L-V is persuaded to fund a
pilot project, continuing the theoretical research. He also establishes
an "atomic" branch in each of the German intelligence services, to spy
on other nation’s efforts. Should another state begin a major effort to
obtain atomic weapons or vessels, the German program will be upgraded to
a national priority.

*Part Seventeenth: All Hell Breaks Loose . . .*

What nobody thought was going to happen naturally happens. In a series
of battles through the spring of 1941, the Republicans break the back of
the Fascist rebels. Soviet military aid finally pays off. Franco,
protected by units of the Italian Navy, retreats to Morocco. The
government is too divided to act.

The political fallout in France is cataclysmic. The Right reacts
ferociously, staging a series of strikes and violent street protests.
In April, the government falls, replaced by a center-left coalition.
The crisis peaks on May 7, with the court-martial of three Army officers
accused of smuggling weapons to Franco. On the eve of trial, right-wing
Army officers and their units mutiny, aided and abetted by Action
Francais. Communist political parties and leftist labor unions take to
the streets of Paris.

A running battle erupts between the Army, right-wing street brawlers and
forces backing the government. More troops join the government, and by
the end of the month, the military is firmly in command of the whole
country. Marshal Petain heads the military regime, and the constitution
of the Third Republic is suspended "to preserve public order."

The effect of the Republican victory is less pronounced in Germany. The
hardliners in the cabinet think they have gained the upper hand on
Lettow-Vorbeck. His pro-British policy would appear to be on the wane.
Fear of the Soviets and communism sweeps Great Britain, but attempts
to move the two countries into an anti-Soviet alliance are rebuffed by
L-V, who is temporarily placating the far right end of his coalition.

In September, German spies get wind of the British atomic bomb project.
Lettow-Vorbeck, true to his word, begins the German bomb effort in
earnest. Much to Admiral Canaris' consternation, more money is taken
from the Navy's budget. Dr. Schacht is pressed to employ his most
"creative" accounting efforts to finance what is officially named the
"Brandenburg Project."

In the USSR, Stalin, emboldened by his victory, plots further moves at
the West's expense. The Japanese, once his most tenacious adversary in
Asia, are suddenly eager to settle their differences in Manchuria. An
armistace is quickly arranged, and a non-aggression treaty is signed
between the two countries in November. The world is stunned.

The Japanese, as it turns out, are merely securing their northern
flank. On December 12, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy's carrier
planes smash the British fleet at Singapore. A day later, French naval
forces get the same treatment as they take to sea off southern Indochina.

The Great Pacific War is on.

*Part Eighteenth: The Devils and Their Due*

The Japanese High Command have made a gamble: they will leave the US in
the Phillipines, and along their supply lines to Southeast Asia, betting
that the Americans will not act to save the European colonies. The
Japanese cannot conceive of taking on the US, France and Great Britain
all at once, but they simply need the resources waiting for them in
Indochina and the Duch East Indies.

The Japanese gamble pays off. Big. The Taft Administration
strenuously protests the unprovoked aggression in the East, but does not
act, except to reinforce the American garrison in the Phillipines.
American public opinion is staunchly opposed to war, and none too fond
of European imperialism, either. The US will sit this one out.

The French and British, on the other hand, are furious. Patriotic
feeling skyrockets, and with it the prestige of Marshall Petain. Their
naval strength in the Pacific crippled, however, there is little they
can do as the Japanese forces rampage through their colonial empires.
Within months, Hong Kong, Saigon and Singapore have fallen. By the end
of Spring, 1942, virtually all of the Pacific north of Australia is in
Japanese hands.

Lettow-Vorbeck is appalled. Years of strenuous efforts to separate the
French from the British in Europe is toatally undone. Every setback to
L-V, however, is an opportunity. The French and the British need
weapons, raw materials and equipment. Lots of it. The Germans need
money. Lots of it. It is a match made in heaven. Soon German
engines, chemicals, airframes and armaments are loaded on flatcars and
rolling into France or on board freighters steaming to Britain. Among
some of the more hardcore generals, there are some qualms about arming
the Allies but the cash registers keep ringing and ringing. Krupp and
other regime supporters override the Anglophobes. Taxes on the exports
flow steadily into the government's coffers. Unemployment plummets.
For the first time in years, Dr. Schacht is happy.

One other is decidedly happy with the situation: Stalin. Overnight, the
Soviet Union has gone from international pariah to courted ally. The
Allies are desperate for Stalin to repudiate his treaty with the
Japanese and enter the war in the Pacific.

Although skillfully stringing the British and French along, comrade
Stalin has other plans. On May 12, 1942, he demands that the Estonians
and Latvians grant the Red Air Force bases in their country. The French
and British are alarmed, but they need the Soviets. Germany stands
alone. On May 13, Lettow-Vorbeck convenes an emergency cabinet meeting.

*Part the Nineteenth: Ja, but . . .*


The cabinet meeting is tumultuous. Lettow-Vorbeck's blood is up. He has
given security guarantees to the Baltic republics, and it is time for
Germany to stand by its unofficial ally. He wants to deliver an
ultimatum to Stalin: back off or else.


The General Staff, however, is fearful. The German Army is not ready for
a titanic struggle with the Soviets. They lose no time in pointing out
that it was L-V who ordered a scaling back of the military buildup. The
argument goes on into the night.


Finally, faced by near-unanimous opposition in his government,
Lettow-Vorbeck backs off. The Red menace must be faced down, but Germany
is in no position to do so in Latvia and Estonia. Momentous decisions
are now made: the German economy is put on a permanent war footing (Dr.
Schacht virtually weeps), the alliances with the Eastern European
countries must be firmed up, and the Allies must be weaned away from any
hope that Stalin will come to their aid in the Pacific.


The next day, the German ambassadors informs the Estonian and Latvian
governments that they are on their own. They, in turn, concede Stalin
his airfields. Soviet soldiers march into the small Baltic countries.
Germany protests, but does no more.


Later that week, L-V meets with the Business Council, an organization of
the most powerful industrial and financial concerns in Germany and tells
them the news. German military orders must be given priority over those
of the Allies, he states, and the government is taking over allocation
of raw materials. To his surprise, the supposedly-patriotic business
leaders balk. They are making money hand over fist from British and
French war orders, and are not in the mood to either scale back military
exports or accept any form of centralized planning. L-V becoms stern:
the businessmen will either voluntarily accept the defense measures or
be compelled. The capitalists back down. Lettow-Vorbeck leaves the
meeting with the distinct feeling that his eyes have been opened.


Throughout eastern Europe, German ambassadors and millitary attaches
meet with the governments to whom they have been accredited. Their
message is direct and full of forboding: a showdown with the Soviet
Union is coming. Stalin's appetite will not be sated by Latvia and
Estonia, and all the countries in the area are in mortal peril. The
Allies will not help them, so their only recourse is closer cooperation
with Germany. Agreements are signed allowing the German military to
construct airfields and tank parks in Rumania, Bulgaria, Finland and
Hungary. Von Papen even opens some tentative overtures to Poland, but
the colonels, still bitter about Danzig and the Corridor, rebuff him.

Von Papen also arranges a summit meeting between Lettow-Vorbeck and the
leaders of France and Britain. In early June, the three leaders meet in
The Hague.

The three leaders hit it off right away. Halifax and Petain have been
working together for six months. Lettow-Vorbeck is less of a known
quantity to the two Allied chiefs, but his fluent English and obvious
respect for the British Empire endear him to Halifax. After the opening
pleasantries, L-V and Petain reminisce some about the Great War.

The leaders get down to business. The Allies want two things from
Germany: they need Lettow-Vorbeck's government to underwrite the
purchase of German war materiel (the Americans, constrained by their
neutrality laws, are insisting on cash-and-carry). They also need
Germany to keep Mussolini on a short leash. Since the Japanese attack,
he has been moving troops into Libya near the Egyptian border and
building naval facilities and air bases on Nationalist-held Spanish
islands in the western Mediterranean. Lettow-Vorbeck agrees, but he has
a price: he wants the Allies to persuade Poland to join Germany's
eastern European alliance system and for France and Britain to stop
encouraging the Soviets. He also wants Germany's colonies back. After
some hard bargaining, Germany's demands are met, with the exception of
what was once German Southwest Africa. Halifax insists that Capetown
will not stand for it, and with a war raging in the Pacific, he cannot
afford to alienate the South Africans. Halifax wants Germany in the
Pacific after the war; it will be insurance against a resurgent Japan.
L-V agrees to write off Southwest Africa; it is nothing but a stretch of
desert, anyway.

At the close of the summit, the leaders announce their agreement (with
the exception of the eastern European provisions, which are to be kept
secret from the Soviets). Again, Lettow-Vorbeck returns to Berlin in
triumph. Germany is again a colonial power. He is not totally happy
about having to take on the Italians while the Soviets are on the march
in the Baltic, but he figures Mussolini is a paper tiger and that
threats will suffice to keep him in line. The Soviets soon find that
the Allied ambassadors are no longer paying their daily visits to the
Kremlin. Germany shifts the /Tirpitz/ and its support craft to the
Mediterranean and panzer divisions to the Brenner Pass. Lettow-Vorbeck
gives a speech to the Reichstag in which he warns that any "power or
combination of powers" that seeks to take advantage in the upheaval in
Asia will find Germany an "implacable foe." Both Stalin and Mussolini
take note. Stalin disregards the speech, but Mussolini begins to have
second thoughts about his Mediterranean ambitions. Their lifeline
secured, both Britain and France shift more of their naval power to the
Pacific.

Stalin, on the other hand, renews his pressure in the Baltic. In July,
he demands concessions from Lithuania. Von Papen again approaches the
colonels running Poland. Even with Allied support, he can make no
headway. Again the Soviets are marching, and again all Germany can do
is protest.

*Parts 20 - 25*

*Part the Twentieth: How Very Odd . . .*

By the end of July, 1942, the Germans are still arming at a furious
pace. Doctor Schacht, visibly miserable over his fate, nonetheless
keeps pulling fiscal rabbits from his wide array of hats. The finances
of the German government are now resting on a wobbly construct concealed
by blue smoke and mirrors, but with the cooperation of the financial
community, Schacht keeps the facts surrounding the situation under
wraps. Lettow-Vorbeck's dictate is clear: Germany must be ready for a
fight with the Soviets, and soon.

The Allies, on the other hand, are squabbling over strategy in the
Pacific: Petain wants to "liberate" Indochina from the Japanese, then
move south and west from there, to the enemy-held Dutch East Indies and
New Guinea The British, on the other hand, want to remain on the
defensive in South East Asia, and leap straight from Australia to New
Guinea. Australian officials are hinting darkly about the consequences
if they are not given priority. The British government in India is very
concerned about the effect upon Indian public opinion if victorious
Japanese troops approach too close.

A "compromise" is hammered out at a meeting in London: they will do
both. A general offensive is set for September.

There is a lot of peculiar diplomatic activity going on in Warsaw: the
Polish colonels are trying to play the Germans off against the Soviets
and vice-versa. An intricate dance develops: each side is trying to
lure the Poles into its camp with offers of economic and military
assistance, and the colonels keep upping the ante.

The Allied offensive in the Pacific is part fiasco, part success. On
the Southeast Asian front, French, Indian and British troops push into
Thailand, which was an unwilling Japanese ally. Thai troops throw down
their guns and surrender, but the Japanese keep up a stiff fight and
grudgingly give ground. Months of slow progress lie ahead.

Off of northern Australia, Allied and Japanese naval forces collide.
The Royal Navy learns another hard lesson about the prowess of Japanese
naval aviation. Several battlewagons are sunk due to inadequate air
cover, and the remainder of the Allied force is compelled to retreat.
The Japanese hold on New Guinea seems unshakable, and the Japanese high
command begins consideration of an invasion of Australia.

British submariners, on the other hand, have been having a "happy time"
preying upon Japanese shipping. The offensive-minded IJN disdains
anti-submarine duty, and the waters of the South Pacific blaze brightly
with the light of burning Japanese tankers and cargo ships.

In October, a series of Soviet-orchestrated strikes and rebellions
topple the governments of the Baltic republics. The puppet governments
of Latvia and Estonia promptly petition for admission to the Soviet
Union, which is immediately granted. Lithuania holds back, citing the
need to crush "reactionary terrorism."

This development strikes Germany's government and intelligence services
as very odd. The whole affair was obviously orchestrated by Moscow, and
there was no continuing resistance in Lithuania to set it apart from the
other two states. Ethnic German Lithuanians can tell which way the wind
is blowing, however, and stream west into Germany.

In November, the Soviet ambassador in Berlin presents Lettow-Vorbeck's
government with a startling proposal. Lithuania will be neutralized,
the note states, if Germany will sign a non-aggression pact with the
USSR. The significance of the proposal is not lost on Von Papen and
Lettow-Vorbeck: Stalin wants a free hand to deal with Finland and
Rumania, the two states with important outstanding territorial disputes
involving the Soviets. In exchange, Soviet forces will be withdrawn
from the only place where they directly threaten German territory, if
only Lettow-Vorbeck will sell out his Eastern European Allies. For
German officials who fear war with the USSR and want a return to
"normalcy," it is a serious temptation.

Lettow-Vorbeck is not tempted however, and it is his opinion that counts
the most. If Germany appeases Soviet aggression, he states at a cabinet
meeting, Germany's allies will abandon her. Then, inevitably, Germany
will face a eastern bloc dominated by the communists. The German
government rejects the note.

This is what Stalin was expecting, so he instructs his negotiators to
continue meeting with the Polish government. For once, the shroud of
secrecy surrounding the negotiations is impenetrable.

In December, the Soviet government demands that Finland cede a
significant portion of its southern territory to the USSR, and withdraw
from its alliance with the Germans.

This is the moment of decision for Lettow-Vorbeck's government. Finland
is a formal German ally, unlike the Baltic states who had merely secret
agreements with Germany. Independent Finland is also a creation of
German troops, who helped secure its withdrawal from the Russia during
and after the World War. If Germany does not stand by Finland, its
anti-Soviet alliance structure will collapse. Von Papen agrees, and
tells the Finns that Germany will back them if they reject the Soviet
demands.

On December 15, the Finnish government unconditionally defies Stalin's
threats. The German government issues a statement that any aggression
against Finland would be "resisted by Germany with all the forces at her
disposal." The next day, the Polish government announces that it will
remain "staunchly neutral" in any conflict between Germany and the
USSR. Any violation of Polish territory by either power would not be
permitted.

Now it is Stalin's turn to make a momentous decision. It is winter,
and the Germans would not dare attack into Russia in the wintertime.
The Germans have backed down before. Neutral Poland bars any major
German offensive; Stalin has latched onto the notion that Lettow-Vorbeck
would not repeat the Kaiser's mistake of attacking a neutral country at
the outset of hostilities. Therefore, L-V must be bluffing.

On December 22, Soviet forces attack Finland all along their frontier.
Lettow-Vorbeck convenes the Reichstag.

*Part the Twenty-First: The Winter of Our Discontent*

Two days before Christmas, Lettow-Vorbeck's address to the Reichstag is
broadcast live to Germany and the world. He begins by recounting the
Soviet Union's aggressions against the Baltic republics and its
interference in the Spanish Civil War. Stalin, states L-V is bent on
spreading "communist tyranny" throughout Europe. Now, states
Lettow-Vorbeck, the Red Beast has turned on Finland, a peaceful republic
that has done nothing to provoke such aggression. If Germany and
Europe stand idly by while another small country slips into the "night
and fog" of Stalin's despotism, he states, it will be an irrevocable
step down the road of destruction of European civilization. Therefore,
Germany must rise to the defense of its ally, Finland, with all its
powers.

The German people, he states, must be prepared for a long and terrible
struggle against a pitiless enemy. The other states of Europe are
invited to stand, "not in Germany's wake, but at Germany's side in the
desperate battle with godless, murderous communism." With God's help,
victory is assured. He asks the Reichstag to declare that a state of
war now exists between Germany and the USSR.

The assembly erupts in "spontaneous" applause on numerous occasions
throughout the speech. The next day it passes the declaration of war
without a single dissenting vote. The wheels are already in motion.
German mobilization goes typically smoothly, with teary-eyed wives and
parents celebrating Christmas early. They do not know when, or even if,
their sons and husbands will be returning. All reservists are called to
the colors, and the ranks of feldgrau swell daily.

Lettow-Vorbeck hits the stump, saluting soldiers as they embark, and
consoling weeping mothers and sweethearts on train platforms. He gives
many spontaneous speeches. His famed aristocratic reserve crumbles.
The contrast between the solidly patriotic German people on one hand and
the greedy arms manufacturers and reluctant generals on the other, is
not lost on Lettow-Vorbeck.

Von Papen is busy, also. Rumania, Hungary and Bulgaria are in, but
despite his entreaties, Yugoslavia demurs. Czechoslovakia also passes.
When they signed on, they imagined a Soviet threat to southern Europe,
not a fight in far-off Finland.

The Yugoslavs have other concerns: Mussolini in particular. The Duce
knows an opportunity when he sees one. From his bed (his health has
been failing lately), he is following the events in the Baltic with
great interest. Because he is concerned with the loyalty of his
subordinates during his illness, he calls a rare meeting of the Fascist
Grand Council, hoping to rally the leadership of his party and smoke out
any dissenters.

The British and French are highly displeased. Some still held out
hopes that the Soviets would be of assistance in the Pacific. They
make some half-hearted attempts at mediation. The effort gives
Lettow-Vorbeck an opportunity for a propaganda coup: stating German war
aims. He demands the Soviets withdraw from Lithuania, Latvia and
Estonia and commit to respecting existing borders.

The primary British concern, however, is that the Germans continue to
honor their commitments as pertain Italy. They are quickly reassured
that Lettow-Vorbeck's word, once given, is kept. That being the case,
and Stalin having refused mediation, the Allies break off diplomatic
relations with the Soviet Union.

The Soviets are somewhat grateful for it. Stalin can now act without
restraint. On the day after Christmas, he launches his troops into an
attack all along the border with Rumania. Simultaneously, Soviet forces
in Lithuania begin their march into East Prussia.

In the Adriatic, the sailors and airmen of the /Tirpitz/ have one more
thing to worry about. They have been ordered to make for the eastern
Baltic with "all possible speed," and Spain has declared war on Germany.

*Part the Twenty-Second: War and Peace*

The Finns are fighting like hell all along the Mannerheim Line, but
their German allies are having trouble getting help to them. Soviet
aircraft, operating from the captive Baltic nations, are making life hot
for German troop transports, two of which have already been sunk.
German commanders in the East Prussian front are screaming for more air
cover, and other air units are in transit to Rumania. There is only so
much to go around.

Nonetheless, German infantry and armor are struggling into Finland,
where those that make it firm up the defensive. Further south, however,
the Soviets are mashing up Rumanian and Hungarian units that bar their
march to Bucharest. Fight and fall back is the strategy, compelled by
superior Soviet numbers and equipment. The Soviet T-34 tank is
strutting its stuff, blowing the daylights out of everything in its
way. All over southern Germany, troops and tanks are being loaded onto
railcars and streaming to the southeast.

In East Prussia, the German Army is putting up stout resistance. The
Soviet supply apparatus in Lithuania is not well-developed, and supply
and fuel shortages quickly manifest themselves. German tank-busting
aircraft are swarming over the invaders, and their cannon and rockets
are laying waste to Soviet armor, which is scattered about among the
infantry. Fixed fortifications channel the Soviet offensive into the
teeth of the German defenders. The Soviets run into a virtual hedgerow
of 88 millimeter anti-tank guns.

Another piece of good news for the Germans: On January 3, Czechoslovakia
joins the fight. While not willing to shed blood and treasure to defend
far-off Finland, the Soviet thrust into Rumania poses a direct threat to
the Czech nation. Czech belligerency not only adds another well-trained
and well-equipped army to the struggle, but substantially shortens
German supply lines to the Rumanian front. Czech forces are soon
moving up to the battle line.

In Rome, an ailing Mussolini arrives at the meeting of the Fascist Grand
Counsel. He receives a rather unpleasant surprise. King Victor
Emmanuel is there, along with Marshal Bagdolio. The former was never a
member of the Fascist party, and the latter was expelled after the
Ethiopian debacle. Nonetheless, the Duce plows forward. The Allies,
Germany and the Soviet Union are all preoccupied. Now is the time to
act. Italian forces, he states, are prepared to seize the Croatian
coast of Yugoslavia and move into Egypt from Libya. Greece is
vulnerable and isolated. A new Roman Empire is out there, ripe for the
picking. The room is silent, then the King speaks.

He outlines the ignominious failures of Mussolini's foreign policy
initiatives. All you have accomplished, he says, pointing his finger at
the Duce, is the isolation of Italy from any other country. Even now,
the country cannot benefit from Allied war orders because Britain and
France fear depending upon Italians for supplies. Italy cannot stab the
Allies and the Germans in the back, he continues. "Germany is fighting
our fight, the struggle against international Communism." The Allies
hold the line against Japanese imperialism, and would close Asia to
Italian exports. Mussolini's proposal is ridiculous. The Italian
people do not want war and empire, they want peace and prosperity. In
summation, Mussolini will have to go.

Bagdolio agrees. He is still smarting from Mussolini's betrayal of him
in Ethiopia. Ciano "regretfully" concurs. Mussolini's adventurism has
made Italy a pariah state. The vote is virtually unanimous, with only
the Duce's hardcore loyalists dissenting. Bagdolio is appointed prime
minister, and Mussolini is placed under house arrest. Within a week,
Ciano has visits scheduled to London, Paris and Berlin.

In Berlin, Lettow-Vorbeck assembles the General Staff for a meeting to
discuss strategy.

In the Mediterranean off the coast of Spain, the /Tirpitz/ is turning
into the wind . . .

*Part the Twenty-Third: Toro! Toro! Toro!*

Once he received his orders to make for the Baltic, Kapitan Zur See
Ernst Lindemann, skipper of the /Tirpitz/, instantly decided that he
must proceed via Gibraltar, rather than take the long way around through
Suez. Reports of German troop transports being sunk by Soviet aircraft
and the bombing of Konigsberg have left his crew and pilots anguished
and spoiling for a fight. The /Tirpitz/, secured for battle, made its
way west at top speed.

In Spain, the communist government is preparing everything that can
carry a gun, bomb or torpedo to throw at the /Tirpitz/. In Tetuan,
Spanish Morrocco, the Nationalist government in exile decides it can't
miss the opportunity to take a poke at the Communists and to throws its
lot in with the Germans, and scrambles its air force. Both sides have
been waging tit-for-tat air combat for a couple of years, and their
pilots are experienced and battle-hardened. The Communist aircraft are
a mixed bag: some of the latest Soviet fighters and some
thirties-vintage torpedo-planes and light bombers. The Nationalists
have been flying Italian aircraft for years, and cannot match the
Communists for quality or quantity.

Before either of the Spanish forces can move, however, Lindemann's dive
bombers strike. At dawn, the "sea Stukas" hammer Communist airfields
all over southern Spain. In their wake, one fourth of the Spanish
airforce lies blazing on the runways. Alerted by the German consul in
Spanish Morocco, the Nationalist air units stage follow-on raids. Too
late. Lack of coordination between the Germans and the Nationalists has
caused an irreparable delay. The communists have their fighters in the
air, and Franco's airmen take serious losses.

The /Tirpitz/, meanwhile, races for the open sea. East of Gibraltar,
waves of Communist fighter planes, dive-bombers and torpedo planes crash
into Lindemann's air defenses. At great cost, the German's shoot their
way through the Communist fighter screen and fall upon the attack
craft. It is a massacre.

Britain has rendered Germany a singular service: as soon as the Spanish
declared war, the UK announced that the violation of Gibraltar's
airspace would be considered an act of war. The Spanish aircraft thus
limited in their angles of approach as the /Tirpitz/ roars through the
Straights.

With the loss of a third of her aircraft, the Lindemann's ship bursts
into the Atlantic. It is harried by the occasional Communist attack as
it makes it way north towards the English Channel, but Lindemann's ship
and crew are intact and eager to take on the Soviets.

In Berlin, Lettow-Vorbeck, his Cabinet, and General Staff confer on the
course of the war. The situation in East Prussia and Finland is stable:
the Germans and Finns are holding the Soviets at bay with tolerable
losses. In the skies over the Baltic, German aircraft struggle to
provide cover for transports ferrying troops and supplies to Finland.
Lettow-Vorbeck and Von Papen confer over possible solutions.

The Rumanian front, however, is in crisis: the Soviets are advancing
almost unchecked. Priority for ground reinforcements is thus set for
the southern front. Once the Russians are stopped there, it is decided
without dissent that the Germans will remain on the defensive throughout
the winter. The German economy will be totally mobilized for the war
effort and the Germans will continue to build up their forces.

The immediate situation dealt with, the discussion turns to the Spring.
Lettow-Vorbeck is in favor of an all-out offensive to finish off the
Soviets. Stalin and communism must be destroyed, once and for all.

Generals Georg Thomas, the head quartermaster, and Friedrich Paulus, the
chief of transport, object strongly. The roads of western Russia are
terrible, and the Soviet railway system is underdeveloped and the wrong
guage for German trains. Any advance into the USSR would be a
logistical nightmare. The Soviets would be able to withdraw into the
vast expanses of the Russian interior, and the German forces would be
unable to deal them a decisive blow. Field Marshall Manstein concurs.
The Soviets have not yet committed their strategic reserves, which are
still stationed further to the east. Even if the German forces could
break through on the East Prussian and Rumanian fronts, they would not
even begin to come to grips with the majority of the Russian forces
until they were deep inside Russia. At that point, due to supply
problems and casualties from the initial invasion, a decisive engagement
would be impossible.

Lettow-Vorbeck is not quite convinced, but he sees the strength of their
arguments. He charges the General Staff to develop a plan to defeat the
Soviets. The objective, he states, should be total victory.

*Part the Twenty Fourth: No More Mister Nice Fueher*

Throughout the winter and early spring, the USSR repeatedly hammers the
German lines in East Prussia, Rumania and Finland. In Rumania, the
Soviet advance is halted at the Pruth river. The German Army is
formidable in defense, and the Soviet offenses are repeatedly halted.
German losses are significant, but the Soviets take tremendous
casualties. Russian tank production is in high gear, and the USSR has
essentially a limitless manpower reserve to draw on. The Germans have
also fully mobilized their economy also, and new heavy tank designs have
moved from the drawing board to the assembly line. Aircraft production
on both sides is tremendous, but the Germans continue to have a
qualitative edge.

The airwar over the eastern Baltic rages on, and the pilots and planes
from the /Tirpitz/ are transferred to air bases in East Prussia. The
Navy protests, but heavy weather and icing on the flight deck makes
carrer operations in the Baltic winter excessively dangerous. The great
ship's passage from the Adriatic to the Baltic was not in vain,
however. The remarkable feat provided a powerful morale boost for the
German home front, particularly when hundreds of Britons ventured into
the Channel in small boats to wish the /Tirpitz/ godspeed.

In late February, King Carol of Rumania visits Lettow-Vorbeck in
Berlin. He is very concerned about the development of the stalemate.
Bessarabia is under under the Soviet yoke, and stories of horrifying
atrocities against Rumanians are filtering out. The General pays him all
the respects due to a sovereign, and assures him that the static
situation will be broken come spring. Lettow-Vorbeck pays the Finns a
call in Helsinki, where he confers with Mannerheim and speaks to the
Finnish parliament, which greets him enthusiastically.

Von Papen has also been busy. The Swedes are willing to cooperate,
allowing German troops to transit their territory on the way to
Finland. The arrangement is kept top secret.

When he returns to Berlin, the General Staff is ready with their plan
for the Spring campaign. It is ruthlessly audacious. Lettow-Vorbeck has
reservations, but the suffering of those in occupied Rumania and the
casualties suffered by German troops all along the front, persuade him
the time has come to take the gloves off. The launch date is May 30,
1943. The intervening months are very busy indeed. Germany's allies are
consulted, and after significant pressure, they agree that what
Lettow-Vorbeck proposes is the only possible way to defeat the Russians.

On May 29, Lettow-Vorbeck once again addresses his Reichstag. The
Polish government, he states, has been engaged in an act of treachery
"unparalleled in the history of civilized governance." Poland's
"so-called" neutrality has been bought: the Soviets have promised the
Poles a new corridor. In return for Poland's professed neutrality, the
Soviet Union has promised to have its puppet regime in Lithuania cede to
Poland a slice of territory south of the Niemen river. This territory
includes the port of Memel and its environs, lands that the Germans
historically possessed. This is why Stalin had not formally
incorporated Lithuania into the USSR: he was then free to bargain with
territory technically not yet belonging to the Soviet Union. Poland has
also allowed the Soviets to transport troops and aircraft across the
tongue of Polish territory into Lithuania. In return, the Poles have
shielded the USSR from the "full power of the German Army." By making
common cause with Stalin in dismembering Lithuania, the Polish
government "has joined the camp of the enemies of civilization."

Therefore, concludes Lettow-Vorbeck, he is requesting that the Reichstag
declare that as of this date a state of war exists between Poland and
Germany. Once again, his hand-picked legislature supports him without
dissent.

The international reaction to the German declaration of war is mixed.
Germany's allies follow their leader. The Soviets and Poles vehemently
deny that Poland has either assisted the Soviet Union in its war effort
or that there was any agreement for the cession of Lithuanian
territory. The Allies remain mostly mum, as they are drawing a great
deal of war material from Germany and are relying on German fiscal
guarantees for further orders. High-level officials privately express
skepticism that the Poles would be so foolish as to join with the
Soviets, but doubts linger. After all, the Polish junta has behaved
consistently stupidly over the last few years, and the deal would
explain why the colonels in charge in Warsaw rebuffed German overtures
for an alliance, and why the Soviets did not annex Lithuania.

Stalin is elated. Over the winter, his armies have been massing on
Poland's western borders. His plans for the Spring have been centered
on invading Poland, isolating the Germans in East Prussia into a pocket
along the Baltic, then driving into the heart of Germany. His generals
have been as concerned about the stalemate as the Germans have been. It
is a relief not to have to be the one to cast Poland's neutrality aside.

On May 30, the German Army crosses into Poland from the West. Virtually
simultaneously, the Soviets, who were planning on moving in early June
anyway, attack in the East. The bewildered Poles, who have been
mobilized since the begining of the war, fight desperately against both
invading armies.

*Part the Twenty-Fifth: Boom, Boom, Out Go the Lights*

At Stavka, reports of the German advance into Poland begin filtering
in. It is slow going. The Poles are putting up significant resistance,
and the German forces appear to be short on both armor and aircraft.
The news confirms Soviet beliefs: the Germans are overextended. The
Soviet high command orders an all-out thrust into Poland. General
Zhukov is in command. Within the first week, the Soviet forces have
captured Pinsk and Lwow, and are closing in on Wilno. The German
forces are staggering along in a ragged front stretching from east of
Szczecin to the area west of Wroclaw. The Russians race on at full
throttle, while the Germans seem to be having trouble with overcoming
Polish resistance. In Moscow, Zhukov proposes sticking to the original
plan, turning his northern forces into East Prussia and those on his
southern flank towards Czechoslovakia. He is overruled. The weakness
of the German advance in Posen is too tempting a target. Punch through
them and straight into the heart of Germany. The Soviet advance will
force the Germans to fall back, and Zhukov's southern and northern
forces will cover its flanks.

By the second week, Zhukov's offensive has taken Brest. Both Wroclaw
and Szczecin have fallen to the German forces under Von Kluge.
Blocking divisions under Timoshenko skirmish with Hoepner's forces in
East Prussia and swing south to confront Czech forces which have moved
in to bar the path to eastern Czechoslovakia. The offensive is
creating, in essence, a giant salient in the overall Soviet-German
front, which now stretches from the Black Sea to the Baltic. On the
East Prussian and Rumanian fronts, the Soviets also are on the attack,
keeping the Germans and their allies under pressure to keep them from
shifting their troops to the Polish front. The Soviets confront
formidable defensive positions prepared throughout the winter, and the
offensive makes little headway.

During week three, the Germans have reached Poznan; Polish resistance
seems to be easing as the German forces grind onward. The Soviets have
raced forward and taken Bialystok in the north and Lublin in the south.
At Zhukov's insistence, Belov's northern army group turns to face north,
covering the Soviet northern flank against Von Runstedt's forces in East
Prussia. The advance forces of the center army group is closing on
Warsaw, south of the Bug river. The combination of the terrible east
Polish road system and the rail network that is incompatible with Soviet
locomotives and freight cars starts producing supply shortages in the
most forward Russian armies.

By the begining of June, the Soviets have crossed the Vistula and are
besieging Warsaw and Crackow in strength. Serious fighting has broken
out between Belov's army and German troops on the East Prussian border.
In the south, Czech forces are battling Timoshenko's troops at points
along the Czechoslovakian border. The Rumanian front is now in serious
danger of being cut off from behind.

By June 10, Warsaw has fallen, and the Red Army is on the road west.
The Soviets are now stretched in a broad front west of the Vistula, its
lead units having collided with Von Kluge's infantrymen.

On June 11, the Germans strike with all they have.

Behind Von Kluge's infantry screen are massed German tanks, which drive
forward into the startled Russians. But the major blows fall in the
north and south. Massive German armored spearheads slice into the
Russian forces, driving north (Von Rundstedt) and south (Guderian) with
incredible speed. Within days, Belov's armies are in full flight.
Timoshenko's front collapses.

The German Air Force is also unleashed. Hundreds of light bombers and
ground-attack aircraft hammer the Soviet forces and their supply
apparatus. At tremendous cost, German planes smash every bridge across
the Vistula and keep blasting Soviet pontoon bridges as fast as they can
be built. Further west, the Germans have broken through the Red Army's
broad front in three places. The Soviets lack adequate motor transport
for their infantry and radios for their tanks and aircraft. They are
simply not prepared for the free-wheeling, high-speed warfare that the
Germans have set loose.

With the Russian forces west of Warsaw cut off by the destruction of the
Vistula bridges, the Germans are able to break up the Red Army front
into pockets, isolating them from each other and continuing to move
east. Within a week, Guderian has reached Lublin, deep in the Soviet
rear. Bialystok falls to Von Rundstedt's tanks. North of Von
Rundstedt, the German armies in East Prussia hurl themselves at the
Soviet forces, pushing them back slowly but steadily.

Panic sweeps the Red Army as it is hammered from all sides.
Lettow-Vorbeck and his General Staff have gambled big, and appear to be
winning. By late June, Virtually the entire Soviet army that marched
into Poland is now either in headlong flight or isolated by German
follow-on forces.

Jubilation reigns in the German headquarters. But they have counted
Zhukov out too soon. On July 1, the Soviets stage a series of desperate
breakouts of the Warsaw and Crackow pockets, driving east with
everything they can pull together. Russian reserve forces are also
assembling and moving up through the Ukraine. The Germans hammer the
Zhukov's bedraggled men, reducing the flood fleeing infantrymen to a
trickle. An enormous bag of prisoners fall into the German hands. By
August, the Germans have established a front from Lithuania south into
Rumania.

The shock of the sudden reversal in fortune rolls through the Soviet
government. The best units of the Red Army have been either destroyed
or captured. The Red Air Force has been smashed, and the Germans are
advancing into the western Ukraine. It is time to cut and run. The
Soviet ambassador in Belgrade contacts his German counterpart. Stalin
accepts the German war aims as put forth by Lettow-Vorbeck at the
opening of the war: the Soviets will withdraw from Rumania and the
Baltic States. Yugoslav ministers pass the message on to
representatives of Germany's allies.

Lettow-Vorbeck again convenes the cabinet to discuss Stalin's offer. A
majority vote to accept the Soviet terms. L-V is strongly against it.
To do so would ensure the survival of communism and guarantee that
Germany would have to fight the Soviets again, once they had rebuilt
their strength. General Brauchitsch points out that the difficulties
involved in invading the Soviet Union are the same as were discussed
last winter. Assuming that it would be possible to reach Moscow at all,
it would take at least a year and cost a million German lives. Even Von
Papen abandon's Lettow- Vorbeck: Germany's allies are wild for peace.
They have achieved their goals: with the destruction of the Red Army's
offensive strength, Eastern Europe is safe. If Germany continues the
war, it may have to do so alone, or oust the governments of Rumania and
Finland, at least. Stalin has been cowed, and may be ousted by the
military for leading them into disaster. Firm in their resolve, the
German ministers cannot be shaken, even by Lettow-Vorbeck's legendary
persuasiveness. He angrily threatens to resign, but his Cabinet will
not be dissuaded.

Broken, with his head in his hands, he agrees. An armistice is quickly
arranged and Russian troops withdraw to the borders of the Soviet
Union. A peace treaty follows in September. The Great Eastern War is over.

*FIN*

*Epilogue: Concerto*

*(1943)*

The peace agreement between Germany and the Soviet Union.is
comparatively straightforward: status quo ante, and the USSR agrees to
rescind its demands upon the Baltic states and respect the borders of
its neighbors. All prisoners are to be returned. This provision turns
out to be tough to enforce as Soviet prisoners riot in their camps and
the German Army has to use force to repatriate them.

Poland is another matter. When the Germans invaded, the military
government fled. In Warsaw, the German Army installs a compliant cabal
of minor military figures as a puppet regime. The Germans promptly make
peace with the new Polish "government." Poland cedes Posen to Germany
and agrees to a "temporary" occupation to "maintain order."

In the Soviet Union, things are not going well. Stalin's policies have
led to catastrophe, and he needs scapegoats. The Red Army high command
is made to order: it's time for a purge.

In the Pacific, the tide is turning in the favor of the Allies. The
second attempt at a landing in New Guinea goes well and the British and
ANZACs are driving the Japanese steadily north. Open season on Japanese
shipping continues, and the IJN starts considering precautions.

In August, Lettow-Vorbeck gives a major speech to a stadium full of
cheering Berliners. He announces that Germany will be returning to a
peacetime economy. However, L-V states, certain reform measures will be
undertaken. Minimum wage and maximum hours laws will be liberalized.
Limits on unionization are to be lifted, but communists are excluded
from union leadership. The tax structure is also to be changed.
Levies upon the working class are to be lightened and new taxes imposed
upon corporations and the wealthy. The crowd erupts in wild applause.
The aristocrat is now a man of the people.

Trouble looms, however. The cabinet is very unhappy. The phones have
been ringing off the hook with disgruntled businessmen. Doctor Schacht
is particularly annoyed, but Von Papen backs Lettow-Vorbeck. The
meeting is stormy, but a compromise is worked out: most of the reforms
will be paid out of revenues from exports to the Allies.

L-V is looking for other sources of support. He forms the Fatherland
League, a group made up primarily of veterans. They have their own
uniforms and hold frequent parades and rallies, which L-V frequently
addresses. His more aristocratic supporters become further irritated;
they do not approve of anything that smells like popular politics.
Since his victory over the Soviets, however, L-V is virtually untouchable.

In the USSR things are not going particularly well for Stalin. The
show-trials continue, with the small fish flopping out of the pan and
into the fire. As the purge approaches Zhukov, rumors start circulating
that there is major discontent in the Red Army about the bloodbath.
Beria's ears prick up. When the NKVD troopers come for Zhukov on
December 5, they are greeted by Red Army soldiers and quickly disarmed.
Thousands of officers and enlisted men credit Zhukov with saving them
from the Germans when Stalin's war plans went awry, and he has a loyal
following. Soldiers come for Beria, who demands to be taken to Zhukov.
Instead, he is taken to the cellar of the Lubyanka, tortured into
confessing his crimes against the State, and shot. Once. In the back
of the head.

Zhukov announces that Beria and the NKVD are attempting a coup against
Stalin and that all loyal Soviet citizens should rally to his side.

For three days, the NKVD battles the Red Army in the streets of Moscow.
Building by building, the Army root them out. None are taken prisoner.
The Army slowly gains the upper hand. Stalin is captured in the
outskirts of town. He and his bodyguard are killed out of hand.

An elaborate funeral is granted Stalin, who is hailed as the savior of
the Soviet Union, his leadership tragically cut short by his murder by
the NKVD. Before, during and after the ceremonies, Zhukov is positioned
as his natural heir, having saved the people from Beria's tyranny. True
stories of Beria's depravity and the murderous activities of the NKVD.

Zhukov is elected Party chairman and is now the undisputed master the
Soviet Union. The Red Army is in the driver's seat, while the Party in
the back.

In Poland, things are getting nasty. Lettow-Vorbeck has issued a
diktat: "we want no Poles." The German Army is entrusted with the task
of "cleansing" Posen. Hundreds of thousands of Polish farmers and
townspeople are ousted from their homes and sent packing eastwards.
Many are herded into boxcars, but many others must walk hundreds of
miles. The only possessions they are left with are the ones they can carry.

Inevitably, word of these goings on reaches the Allies. Public opinion
in Britain and particularly France turns violently anti-German.
Churchill, back at Admiralty, speaks eloquently against "Prussian
barbarism." Relations sour between the Germans and the Allies. With
the war in the Pacific going well and the USA liberalizing its trading
laws, the British and French feel more free to distance themselves from
Germany.

*(1944)*

The war in the Pacific continues to go well for the Allies. In March,
British and French troops are hacking their way down the Malay peninsula
and assault Japanese-held Singapore. The British and ANZACs are closing
in from the west, also, having cleared New Guinea over the winter and
driven off the Japanese surface fleet in February. The situation of the
Japanese ground forces grows increasingly strained as Allied submariners
blast away at their support convoys.

In March, the Polish people, led by the remnants of their army, rise
against the German occupation forces and the puppet regime. A week of
fighting ensues, and the rebellion is crushed absolutely.
Lettow-Vorbeck takes the gloves off. From then on, Poland is governed
solely by the German military. The Allies protest vigorously, but
Germany brushes them off.

Zhukov senses an opening. The Soviet embassy in Berlin, vacant since
the war, sees the arrival of a new ambassador and staff.

After the uprising subsides, L-V announces that the agricultural land
vacated by the Poles in Posen will be distributed among small German
farmers. The Junker agricultural barons are outraged. Naturally, they
assumed that the looted Polish estates would be theirs.
Lettow-Vorbeck's enemies now include much of the traditional German
aristocracy, but he has never been more popular with the rank-and-file
German people. Moves are made in the Cabinet to halt his plans, but the
sequestered land is under the control of the Army, and the Army is
taking its orders from its lawful commander in chief.

Throughout the spring and summer, the Allies root the Japanese Army out
of Malaysia and the Dutch East Indies. Three British and two French
aircraft carriers smash four of their Japanese counterparts off of
Celebes, and rout a Japanese counteroffensive.

Germany continues its transition to a peacetime economy. Exports to the
Allies continue to roll off the production lines, but American
competition increasingly cuts into their markets. L-V continues shaping
the Fatherland League to his design: children's and women's
organizations are formed and group life and health insurance for all
members is added.

Lettow-Vorbeck's enemies begin shaping plans for a change of government,
but they realize that it will be all for naught so long as L-V maintains
his popularity with the Army.

By late fall, the Allies have secured their reconquests in the South
Pacific. Another controversy arises between the French and British
commanders. The British want to liberate Hong Kong, but the French have
cast their eyes on Formosa. Again, they "compromise" by doing both.
The Japanese High Command is now certain that the tide has turned
against them. Desperate measures are called for if the Allies are to
be stopped.

Lettow-Vorbeck decides that he needs a holiday. In December he takes a
German cruiser to what is once again German South East Africa. In Dar
es Salaam he is given a hero's welcome by crowds that include many of
his soldiers from World War 1. L-V confers briefly with the
newly-installed colonial officials, and spends much of his time
reminiscing with his former comrades in arms. He also takes the time
off to consider his situation. L-V is fully aware that he is alienating
many of his former allies with his populist programme, but his
experience during the war with the Soviets has convinced him that the
German people are not being well-served by a government whose allegiance
is to the Army, the aristocracy and big business. By the end of his
vacation, he has a plan.

*(1945)*

Europe is quiet at the beginning of the year. The Soviets are making
low-level approaches to the German government, but L-V and Von Papen
order them gently rebuffed. Now is not the time for a change of policy
towards communism. The Italians are primarily concerned with domestic
affairs and repairing their relationship with the Allies. Even Spain is
peaceful. The Nationalists and Republicans are still licking their
wounds from their earlier fighting, and Franco's forces are feeling
around for new sponsors, since they were abandoned by the Italians.
The Republicans find that the Soviet Union has distanced itself from
their government since the fall of Stalin. Zhukov's government is
primarily concerned with consolidating its hold and rebuilding the
devastated Red Army. News of Stalin's atrocities is slowly leaked to
the Soviet population, but they are attributed to Beria. Poland groans
under the yoke of German occupation, but no further uprisings are in the
works, since most of the leadership of the former rebellion are either
dead or in exile in France or the United Kingdom. The latter does not
go unnoticed by the German government, which repeatedly insists upon the
return of the "criminals." The Allied governments sternly refuse.

In March, the British and ANZACs assault Hong Kong. Dozens of Japanese
suicide planes smash into the Allied naval forces, sinking several ships
and damaging others. The Japanese Army fights furiously on the beach
head, and within a few days it becomes apparent that pushing inland will
be a very bloody affair. The British try to prod Chaing Kai Shiek into
launching diversionary attacks upon Japanese-held China, but he keeps
putting them off, claiming he is not yet prepared.

Virtually simultaneously, the French attack Formosa. There too, the
Japanese suicide squadrons inflict major losses upon the Allied forces,
but the French manage to establish a beachhead and push rapidly inland.

In Germany, L-V continues building popular support. He pushes public
works programmes through the Cabinet to soak up the unemployment caused
by the return of Army reservists to civilian life and the slowing of
Allied war orders. Lettow-Vorbeck also causes some consternation in the
Army. He wants to reduce its overall numbers while simultaneously
increasing the proportion of motorized units, including tanks based on
Soviet and French designs. Since fewer divisions mean less opportunity
for promotion, the officer corps resists his reforms. He is still
popular among the enlisted men, however and is roundly cheered on his
frequent visits to Army facilities. The Air Force is pushing for
greater funding, and has several pet projects, including jet fighters
and a heavy, long-range bomber. Doctor Schacht and L-V insist upon
deferring these plans on fiscal grounds, and much grumbling is heard in
the upper ranks.

By the mid-summer, the British have secured Hong Kong and its immediate
environs on the Chinese mainland. The French are in control of Formosa
after a bruising battle with fanatical Japanese resistance. In Formosa,
the Allied forces are gathering for the next major assault. The Allied
submarine campaign continues to take its toll, with British subs
operating with impunity in the waters around the Japanese home islands.

In the fall, L-V, spurred on by increasing rumors of an imminent move to
oust him from office, accelerates his plans.

The Soviets, increasingly concerned about their isolation, expand their
lines of communication to the Allies. The French and British want the
USSR to attack Japan in Manchuria, thus drawing off Japanese men and
materiel from the Pacific theatre. They also want to use Russian
territory to bomb Japan. Zhukov gives neither yes nor no answers to the
Allied requests, insisting that the state of the Red Army is not such as
will allow the USSR to move immediately. He is also concerned about
the major German presence in Poland, and could not afford to denude the
western frontier. Soviet diplomats request that the Allies provide
advisors for Soviet industry and materiel support for the buildup of the
Red Army as a precondition for any intervention in Asia.

The Allies hesitate. The diplomatic corps is generally Eurocentric, and
assistance to the USSR would mean a serious break with Germany. Poland
or no Poland, this is an alarming step. With the atrocious casualty
numbers coming in from Hong Kong and Formosa, however, the ultimate
decision is to aid the Soviets.

When the news reaches Berlin, Lettow-Vorbeck works furiously to temper
the German reaction. The Cabinet is up in arms and wants to issue a
hostile public statement - almost an ultimatum - denouncing the Allied
move. L-V and Von Papen realize that the Allied aid is not targeted at
them, but at the Japanese. L-V notes an opportunity, and maneuvers the
resignation of the dissenting Interior and Defense Ministers. He
replaces them with Guderian and Von Rundstedt, two of his most loyal
followers. The German statement is ultimately one expressing "serious
concern" that the assistance would be directed solely against the
Japanese, and that Germany would remain at "a heightened state of
vigilance" for any threat to its security. To back up the statement,
L-V gives a public go-ahead for the manufacture of the Heinkel
long-range bomber, a move that could only be directed at the British or
the Soviets.

In November, the Allies assault Okinawa. It is a bloody affair, with
Japanese suicide planes attacking the landing force in waves, and the
Japanese battling fanatically both on the beaches and in the interior.
The desperate struggle rages until January, with several Allied ships
being sunk and thousands of French, British and ANZAC soldiers and
sailors being killed.

In Berlin, Lettow-Vorbeck's plans are coming to fruition.

*(1946)*

Throughout January and February, the British work earnestly to convert
Okinawa to a major base for submarine operations. By March, most of
their sub force has been moved to the island, and they start forging a
ring around the Japanese home islands, through which nothing can pass.
Through the German Embassy in Tokyo, the Japanese government sends out
its first peace feelers. The Japanese propose a cessation of
hostilities, followed by negotiations based upon the return of the
European colonies to the Allies and the return of Formosa and Okinawa to
Japan. The Allies, though war-weary, refuse. They respond that peace
in the Pacific can only be guaranteed if Japan's armaments are limited
and confined to the home islands. The Japanese governments decline
these terms.

On March 15, Lettow-Vorbeck acts. He issues decrees dissolving both the
Reichstag and the Cabinet and declares a state of martial law. Since
his return from South East Africa, Army units containing the most
suspect officers have been detailed to Polish occupation duty, leaving
only loyal commanders in charge of the major units in Germany. Guderian
and Von Rundstedt, who have been let in on his plans, back him to the
hilt. Soldiers quickly seize key points in all major cities, and occupy
the rail facilities between Germany and Poland. Officers suspected of
enmity towards the regime are detained and relieved of command.
Halfhearted attempts are made to organize resistance, but the troops are
too scattered and many are unwilling to leave their posts out of a sense
of duty.

That evening L-V addresses the nation on the radio and television. It
has come to his attention, he states, that there was a conspiracy afoot
to overthrow his government. He acted to preempt the coup and to ensure
order. Lettow-Vorbeck recounts the accomplishments of his regime and
states that, with the communist and Nazi threats eliminated, the need
for the suspension of civil liberties has passed. However, Germany can
not simply revert to the old Weimar government, which failed so
miserably to protect the safety of Germany and the security of German
citizens. Therefore, within one month, Germany will have elections for
a National Assembly, which will be charged with drafting an effective
new constitution. In the meantime, political prisoners (with the noted
exception of the Nazis and Communists) will be released and the
restrictions on political parties lifted. Martial law will remain in
effect.

Having only a month to organize, the formerly outlawed political parties
struggle to rebuild largely skeletal remains of their former strength.
The Catholic Centre Party does the best, since their organization had
remained largely intact through the Church. The conservative parties do
well also, but many of their members are opposed in principle to the
idea of a National Assembly, and have mixed feelings about
participation. Also, Lettow-Vorbeck's organization changes its name to
the "Fatherland Party," and draws much of the strength away from the
conservative groups. The Social Democrats prove surprisingly resilient,
considering that the unions had been crushed for years.

The elections are conducted under the guns of the German Army. When the
votes are tallied, the Fatherland Party, the Catholic Center Party and
the Christian Democratic Party garner the bulk of the votes. The Social
Democrats come in fourth.

In May, the National Assembly convenes. On the first day, the body
elects Lettow-Vorbeck its president. The deliberations go on for
months. After his opening speech, L-V largely remains silent,
preferring to let his wishes known by way of others. He is holding
himself in reserve for something, but no one knows what.

In the Pacific, the Allies have seized several small islands placing the
Japanese homeland within bomber range. British and French heavy bombers
range over Japan dumping tons of high explosives and incendiaries on
Tokyo and other major cities. "Bomber" Harris' strategy is to "dehouse"
the Japanese workforce and demoralize the civilian population.

In Berlin, the major parties have maneuvered to establish a new
electoral system which will largely exclude small parties from the
legislature. Through L-V's discreet intervention, the Chancellor is
made an elected office, independent of the legislative bodies: the
Reichstag and Bundestag. The members of the former is elected by the
German people for a fixed four-year term. The latter are chosen by the
legislatures of the states and serve a ten year term. The issue of the
chief of state is repeatedly deferred until the end of the convention.
It is at that moment that Lettow-Vorbeck steps in with both feet.
Through some judicious logrolling, he enlists the Catholic Centre Party
to the cause, promising them extensive Church influence in the cultural
and educational affairs of Catholic south Germany and a generous
annuity for the German church. On what is scheduled to be one of the
last days of the convention, a rogue member of the Christian Democratic
Party rises to propose that the head of state be a Hohenzolleren
monarch. Uproar results, with the parties of the left shouting that
they will never accept a monarchy.

Lettow-Vorbeck returns the assembly to order. He speaks eloquently in
favor of a monarchy, recalling the days when all Germans were united
prior to the Great War. Intense negotiations follow his speech. The
prospective monarch enters the fray. He is Louis-Ferdinand, the eldest
son of the Crown Prince. He is young, liberal and charismatic. Louis
charms recalcitrant delegates, but still a compromise is needed. The
new monarch will have little formal power, but his approval will be
needed for amendments to the constitution. Also, a referendum will be
held every twenty years for the renewal of the monarchy. If at any
time, the German people vote against the monarch, the country will
revert to a republic.

The new constitution passes the Assembly and is enacted. In August,
elections are held for the Reichstag and the Chancellor.
Lettow-Vorbeck wins the highest office in Germany, and the Fatherland
Party takes a plurality in the Reichstag, with the Christian Democrats
coming in second and Catholic Center Party coming in third. Again, the
Social Democrats come in fourth. Louis-Ferdinand is crowned Kaiser of
Germany.

For the first time in many years, Germany is a constitutional
democratically-elected government.

*(1947)*

In the Pacific, the Japanese are being bombed and starved into
submission. Thousands are dying in raids upon the cities, and tens of
thousands are perishing from hunger. The blockade and air raids
continue through the winter and into spring. In May, the Red Army rolls
into Manchuria and down the Korean peninsula, brushing aside the
Japanese resistance.

In August, after an abortive coup by hard-liners in the Army, the
Japanese accept the Allied Armistice terms.

The Great Pacific War is over. The world returns to peace.
 
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