Rank and File
A Clerk’s War
Sunday 16th October
No weekends off for key personnel such as filing administrators. I thought I would come in a do a bit more catching up, now that I was aware of the current situation. Hopefully a quiet Sunday would allow me to ease myself back into circulation.
I was having my morning coffee, usually a time when I insist on peace and quiet, when Gisela tapped on the door and apologetically told me that I had a visitor who was quite insistent. He had told her to let me know that Fregattenkapitän Karl Behrens was in town. Of course I immediately had her bring him in, and asked her to a cup of “proper” coffer for my Kriegsmarine friend. No ersatz hickory for a special occasion such as this.
I was a bit surprised to notice that Karl was wearing his “große Uniform”, but he explained he was in Berlin to be formally promoted, and he was expected to attend a few official ceremonies. I took the opportunity to congratulate him: it was only recently that he was made a Korvettenkapitän. He laughingly reminded me that it was actually in March 1937, and that we had last met in January 1938, when I had visited Kiel to see the launch of the “Scharnhorst”. Time flies when you are enjoying yourself – or maybe it is my head wound. I asked him about his promotion but he was not very forthcoming, a muttered comment about the Battle of the Pommeranian Coast and being lucky. (Of course I wasn’t satisfied with this, and after he had left I got a junior research clerk to look into it. There was quite an impressive file on my young friend. Karl had impressed some very important Kriegsmarine officers by his handling of his destroyer during the naval engagement in the Ostsee, repeatedly placing it between the French battleship “Provence” and the stricken cruiser “Stuttgart”. Despite his efforts to distract the French gunnery officers, the “Stutttgart” was lost, but his superiors believed he had shown the daring attitude that the Kriegsmarine values. His promotion was his reward for risking his ship for the good of the fleet.
The “Provence”: an identification photograph from the Kriegsmarine files. Although a veteran of the last war, her five 340mm guns were still potent weapons, as the loss of the “Stuttgart” and “Emden” testified. I can appreciate the bravery required in taking a destroyer within range of those massive weapons.
Karl had somehow heard of my injury, and he had an hour before his first ceremony (which was close by) so he had taken the opportunity to drop in and see me. We spent a pleasant half hour talking of those few nights in Kiel: it seemed so long ago and so different. War had been in the air, but back then it was distant and non-alarming. Now it dominated everything. In hindsight, how carefree I had been, strolling along the dock and gazing at the sleek new ships.
Among all the pleasantries and memories I did pick up an interesting bit of information. Apparently it is well known in the Kriegsmarine, and the information is starting to spread to the foreign office: the reports from Italy about tremendous victories at sea are mainly boastful lies by Mussolini! He forced Count Ciano to pass on the false claims in a bid to make it appear as though the Regia Marina was the dominant power in the Mediterranean. Karl said he had been told this was to dissuade Germany from looking south for future conquests.
Admiral Raeder had known from the beginning that at least one of the claims was false. The Kriegsmarine runs a very efficient spy service of its own, small and specialised but quite reliable. At the time that the Italians had claimed to have sunk the French carrier Béarn, the Admiral had incontrovertible proof that it was sailing in the Bay of Biscay. Obviously this had prompted him to check the other Italian claims. Karl told me the results of the inquiries were an open joke in the Kriegsmarine officers’ messes.
The “Béarn” patrols the Bay of Biscay. It was this photo that alerted Admiral Raeder that the Italian claims of naval victories were false. I have no idea how it was obtained: perhaps from our Portuguese allies?
The Italians had claimed to have sunk the Béarn, the light cruisers “Jeanne d’Arc”, “Orion” and “Caledon” and a total of 3 destroyer, 8 submarine and 9 transport flotillas, all for the cost of a single cruiser (the “Trento”), a destroyer squadron and 5 submarine flotillas. Our information is that they actually sank the cruiser “Kent”, the light cruisers “Galissionnaire”, “Orion” and “Galatea”, and 3 destroyer squadrons. Still not a bad record, except that to achieve that total they lost the battleships “Andrea Doria” and “Caio Diulio”, the cruisers “Trento” and “Trieste”, three light cruisers (“Armando Diaz”, “Duca D’Aosta” and “Eugene Di Savoia”) as well as 4 destroyer squadrons and 3 submarine squadrons. Overall, the Regia Marina has not performed well.
The battleships “Andrea Doria” and “Caio Diulio”: when will the Italians admit that they have both been lost?
It seemed only minutes before Karl looked at his naval fob watch (a slight affectation, but I suppose we have to let the youngsters have their fun) and made his goodbyes. I told him that it must not be another 2 years next time, and he promised to get promoted more quickly.
After he left, there was another surprise. Gisela came into my office with a small folder, and hesitantly offered it to me. When I opened it, inside were summaries of all active conflicts in France and Denmark. When I had realised what the contents were, I looked at Gisela, who was looking embarrassed. She stammered that she know I was interested in the progress of the war and that I liked to keep up to date on which battles were in progress. As soon as she knew when I would be back at work, she had gathered these documents for me (I understand by telling people she was obtaining the documents on my orders). She apologised for not having updates for the entire period I was away, but said she had not been able, with her low security level, to access documents. She had however, kept a few notes of conversations she had overheard.
In the past few weeks, while the Wehrmacht slowly moved forward, the British had shown up in large numbers. No longer as an Expeditionary Force under French command, British units were everywhere in France, and were proving very resilient. More alarmingly, the Luftwaffe no longer had complete control of the air. In fact, many army officers complained that the RAF dominated the skies above their positions. Plane and pilot losses were mounting, and the Armee de l’Air was making a much stronger effort as well. RAF and French bombers had inflicted very heavy losses on our ground troops, and calls for more planes and more anti-air brigades were constant. While we have also benefitted, it appears that bombing has become far more lethal. The rumours are that the Patch 1.3 conspiracy had something to do with this, but how could they have affected the French and British bombers as well?
Not all the British bombers get away: what remains of this Bristol Blenheim is on its way to a Luftwaffe research facility
At sea, I already knew that the Royal Navy had forced us to cancel all trade contracts as the loss of so many cargo ships (and merchant seamen) was a drain on national confidence. What I was unaware of was that our submariners have also improved markedly. We seem to be sinking several ships a week, a vast improvement on our previous performance. Was this also the result of the removal of the influence of the Patch 1.3 plotters?
She also had a bit of information on foreign affairs. It seems that not only Wehrmacht officers get talkative in the presence of a pretty and attentive listener. While it was true, as I had heard, that Australia was no longer a member of the Allies and had signalled an interest in joining the Axis, our diplomats report that closer enquiries showed that this would be impossible to achieve. There was also some serious news from the Soviet Union. No-one knows how they have managed it, but they have increased their manpower reserves significantly, and their policies show them to have become more hard-line and much less neutral. Minister von Neurath expects that very soon they will be enacting laws to introduce conscription and probably also to bring their economy closer to a war footing.
Having passed on her information, Gisela said something about having work to do, and left for her little alcove outside my door. She had given me a lot to think about, and not just in the news she had gathered. I decided I would have to amend my opinion of my secretary. She surprised me once when she revealed her near perfect memory for conversations. Now she had demonstrated not just a thorough knowledge of my habits and interests, but also an ability to gather, analyse and evaluate confidential information. While obviously her skills could be valuable for me, this could also be a double-edged sword. What if someone were to question her about my activities, innocent though they were?
The documents Gisela provided were very interesting. The first two battles were in Denmark, where General von Rundstedt’s Benelux Army is attempting to repel the combined Norwegian – Swedish invasion of the Danish island of Zealand. The largest and hardest fought battle is for Copenhagen itself. General Hartmann is in overall command, leading his own 19.infanterie and Böttcher’s 1st Marine-Sturm Division against the Swedish General Ehrensvärd, who has plenty of troops and is well dug in. From the information I saw, the Marines had taken some heavy punishment, but the 2nd Marine-Sturm Division is moving up to assist. The side comments on the report showed that someone in General Rundstedt’s staff did not have high hopes of success unless significant Luftwaffe assets were deployed to the Baltic, something that was extremely unikely.
Battle of Copenhagen: note the Nordseeflotte unable to get close enough to assist.
The second ongoing Zealand battle was for Helsingör, and even I can see that there is little chance of success here. General Keitel is outnumbered, and his 22.Infanterie is already struggling to retain a semblance of organisation. With no likelihood of assistance, I think General Malmberg and his three brigades, exhausted though they may be, should be able to hold out.
In France, while the Wehrmacht has been active, in the absence of any firm direction from OKH the tempo has definitely slowed in the past two weeks. The only two battles at midnight on the 15th October were in the provinces of Évreux and St Dizier. Évreux saw the redoubtable General Guderian and his 1st Leichte Panzer Division attempting to cross the Seine against a determined foe: the 3rd Marine Brigade under General Dickinson. As if a river crossing under fire were not hard enough (with not a pioniere in sight), the weather has turned ugly for the panzertruppen, with an autumn storm turning the Seine into a raging torrent. Still, Guderian is a tricky and experienced leader, and if anyone can force a crossing it is him.
The Battle of St Dizier is actually a French counter-attack, and on paper at least we have already lost. 20.Infanterie Division has been fighting hard for weeks and, according to General Curtze, it has been under constant air attack. The French, however, are using a fresh unit, 4th Motor Brigade under General Revers. Although we have a nominal superiority, the French attack is perfectly controlled while Curtze reports increasing difficulty in getting his men to respond to orders. Unless General Hausser of 1st Panzerkorps can react quickly and reinforce his divisional commander, I see no way we can retain the province.
It looks as though some people have returned to work (or have been able to concentrate on their duties again) before me. The first pile of papers I examined all related to high level reorganisations and a series of directives for Army commanders, all direct from OKH. The lull since the assassination attempt is over.
As expected, there has been some commotion regarding the discovery of General Rommel languishing in Ragnit, East Prussia, guarding the border in charge of 73.Infanterie Division. He has been ordered to Berlin and promised command of the new panzer division that should be commissioned within a few weeks. General Brennecke has replaced him. This has prompted some hilarity, as Bremmecke is a specialist in winter operations, and the comfortable Berlin-based officers find it amusing that his skill has won him a post far in the east.
Now based in Berlin, waiting for his first wartime armour command, General Rommel has managed to make a trip to France to inspect the conditions himself. It is this attention to detail that has earned him his reputation as a first rate commander. Here Julius von Bernuth, Chief of the General Staff of 2nd Panzerkorps, takes him on a tour of the front lines.
As far as the Armies are concerned, the newly appointed General Andrae has the least change with which to grapple. His objectives remain the same: to defend the Reich from Luxembourg to Todtmoos. The Westwall Army has retained nearly all its ground troops (it has lost only three divisions transferred north to General von Rundstedt), and in fact there are several Hungarian divisions in the area, which although not under the direct command of the Westwall Army , should be useful, if only as a reserve. General Andrae has, however, lost 1st Taktischeluftflotte and 1st Stukakorps, both of which have been transferred to the Österreich Army. It is felt that the crisis on the Westwall is over, and the planes are needed elsewhere.
General von Rundstedt has been given a much more difficult task, and fewer men with which to do it. His Army has been renamed to reflect the greater responsibility. It is no longer to be called the “Benelux” Army, but rather the Nordsee Army. He has lost 1st Motorkorps, which has also been attached to the Österreich Army, but has gained IX Armeekorps with its three divisions. The Nordsee Army is responsible for the entire Nordsee Coast from Brugge to Fredrikshavn, with particular emphasis on the ports. It also must maintain order in the occupied territories inland, guard our naval bases, and at the same time throw the Scandinavians out of Denmark. Only an officer with the skill and experience of General von Rundstedt would even try to carry out so many different yet critically important tasks simultaneously.
With Paris in our hands, Unternehmen Gummiknuppel has been successfully completed. Unternehmen Stahlknuppel is now to begin. The objective of “Stahlknuppel” is simple – to force the surrender of France by destroying her armed forces. At least for the opening stages of “Stahlknuppel”, the action will be driven by two armies, the Army of the Ardennes and the Österreich Army.
On our right flank, the Army of the Ardennes has been given new initial objectives: it is to protect Paris and drive for Dieppe, Cherbourg, Étampes and Orléans. Its primary purpose is to seize the Channel ports, but it is to also sweep west and south through northern France, crushing all resistance. Next to the Army of the Ardennes, the Österreich Army is to also defend Paris, but its objectives are all to the south and east. It is to drive for Rouen, Arlon, Longuyon, St Mihiel, St Dizier, Les Ricayes, Dijon and Besançon. The purpose is to seal off the troops on the Maginot and either force them to battle outside their defensive fortifications, or starve them into collapse. The extra armeekorps and two air fleets are an acknowledgment of the difficulties that General Dennerlein may be expected to encounter.
The British have bolstered the French everywhere, even on the Maginot line: our spies have alerted us to the presence of the 51st Highlanders relieving French troops on garrison duty on the border.
The only other memorandum I had was from the Office of Skilled Personnel. The most recent review of our universities and high level education institutes has led to the conclusion that more research can be maintained. A new technical group has been set up, and it is to concentrate on developing strategies for targeting enemy fighters. Given Gisela’s comments about the increased activity of the RAF (and to a lesser extent the Armée de l’Air) we will probably need this sort of knowledge as soon as possible.
My desk is now clear. Now to wait for the first incoming reports.
) then itr would be unbeatable by 1941.
