Rank and File
A Clerk’s War
1st April to 30th April 1939
Another snippet of information crossed my desk that confirmed we are getting closer and closer to war. As Head of Intelligence, Minister Frick has ordered that the supply of agents to Poland be given the highest priority, and that all spies in the country obtain military information, even if it risks them blowing their cover.
I also saw that 3 of the new radar stations have been set up: at Wilhelmshaven, Bitburg and Stuttgart. Three more have been ordered, and as would be expected, the cost is much reduced. From the allocation I deduce that they are to be used more for air defence rather than information gathering.
The item that removed any doubt about the proximity of war came, strangely enough, not from a diplomatic post or an army movement order, but from a supply requisition. Why were depots being asked to release WWI relics like the Gewehr 88 and 7.62 Infanteriegeschutz 16L/16.5? It didn’t take long to realise that the only possible reason was that second line regiments were being called up, and that more modern weaponry was being saved for front line units. Second line regiments perform garrison duties, and garrison duties means occupied territory. And that means war.
These rifles belong in museums, not in army ordnance stores. But Sicherungs units must make do with what they get, even the Gewehr 88.
So I was not surprised when, a few days later I saw that as well as a new motorised division, a Sicherungs division was to be formed.
On the 7th, the new air-launched torpedo was put into production. The research team was put onto a new project: Civil Defence procedures. A timely reminder that when war starts, it will not only be the enemy who takes damage.
Recruitment is accelerating. Only days after the last 2 divisions were announced, our first Fallschirmsjager division started to be trained. At the same time, three artillery brigades and a tank destroyer brigade were approved. Another Gebirgsjager division has joined 1st Gebirgsjagerkorps (the fifth!) and three motorised infantry brigades were assigned to support the headquarters staff of the two light and one medium Panzerkorps.
The bombshell dropped on the 18th. I had just finished processing order forms for another two Type IX U-boat flotillas, and had picked up some transfer documents detailing the movement of technical staff from the completed medium bomb project to Heer School of Military Theory to develop refined Blitzkrieg tactics, when Gisela dashed in. She asked if I had heard the news – I took it that this was a rhetorical question as she knew I had been in my office since early morning. She said it was all over the office: a non-aggression treaty with the Soviets had been signed. At first I assumed she had got it wrong: how could we sign a deal with the arch-enemy?
I found a reason to visit the Foreign Office, and there the Treaty was being openly discussed. Gisela had got it right – not only was there a full non-aggression pact but there were also trade and other arrangements. One high ranking administrator made a strange remark to me hinting that he knows more than has been publicly released and that there are other “secret” agreements, but he is given to overestimating his importance so I paid little attention to his comments.
Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov signs the Pact with Stalin (and Lenin!)watching, while Joachim von Ribbentrop makes sure he is in the picture.
The newspapers that evening were full of the news, and photos of Special Commissioner Ribbentrop watching Molotov signing the Treaty in Moscow (why Minister von Neurath let him get the glory I don’t know, but it can be fairly Machiavellian at the top levels of the Party). The impression I got from my fellow train passengers was that there was sense of relief that a threat of major war has been removed. I am not so sure – the documents I have seen indicate that the West will stick by Poland, even if the Soviets sit on their hands.
One country that definitely took alarm at the Treaty is Finland: on the morning of the 17th our Embassy in Helsinki reported that the Finnish Army has started mobilising. Perhaps Poland should also be alarmed: a standard army relocation advice was authorised the same morning. Not alarming you would think: units get rebased all the time. But this was the 1st Panzerkorps, the most powerful unit in the Heer, and it was being sent to Konigsberg to join the Army of East Prussia! I noticed though that it will be held in the Konigsberg area, well away from the front and detection by Polish intelligence. I suppose the Army of East Prussia doesn’t want the Polish Army to reinforce the border areas in response.
Little else of import happened in April. New light bombs went into production (and were rushed to front-line airfields as fast as they came off the production lines) and an urgent program to increase armour on our twin engine planes was commenced. Funds were allocated to the War College for studies in Assault Concentration and the Kriegsmarine set up a research group to modify this new-fangled radar contraption for use on our larger ships.
I haven’t mentioned events in Asia this month as little new came in. The utter silence regarding Shanghai leads up to believe that the bridgehead has been eliminated. Our liaison officer was evacuated at the beginning of the month (as per his orders) so we have no direct knowledge, but merchant ships in the area report a lack of Japanese supply traffic, so we are assuming the worst. The IJA hangs on in Korea, but it must be only days before the few thousand remaining troops surrender. They have lost control of the port of Pusan and must be short of food, fuel and ammunition. The Japanese Co-prosperity Sphere is sputtering out of existence.
The last Japanese presence on the mainland is about to be snuffed out.
At home, research disruption is up to 5%, despite large numbers of spies being charged with offences against the State. Production is also being hard hit, and at a critical time for us, when every piece of equipment is vitally needed. It cannot be long before my brothers and brother-in-law, not to mention many of my close friends, will be in combat. I have to admit I am worried for all of them – rumours of the size and strength of the forces against us are quite unnerving.
Still, it is reassuring to know that we have at least a two year opportunity to deal with Britain and France. And then, despite the assurance of perpetual friendship and mutual admiration, it will be the turn of Russia!
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