Doppelgänger: the Untold Story of the Third Reich

A man is walking along the streets of Berlin, obviously not going anywhere in particular, simply enjoying the bracing conditions. Dressed in an expensive winter coat, he can tolerate the near freezing conditions. He pauses at a newspaper stall and inspects the magazines.



The start of November. Winter was coming, and our armies were still locked in the east. Losses were mounting and the French were getting increasingly aggressive. Was my plan to dominate Europe, if not the world, in danger of falling at the first hurdle? I firmly dismissed such thoughts. There is no room for self-doubt. Poland is proving tougher than expected, and the Wehrmacht is not large enough or equipped well enough to operate as I expected. I must accept this and take the necessary steps to get the plan back on schedule.

One thing could be done immediately. Our diplomats have been working assiduously for some time to keep the USA neutral. Our best information is that it will take years for the British to convince the American public on their side. It is time to switch from defence to offence. The diplomats have been sent to Japan, which has drifted away from us. We need to bring them closer, to ensure that we have a strong ally in the Pacific.

The situation in Poland was actually not too bad. Casualties, though high, were not unbearable. The length of time to force them to surrender has exceeded expectations, but as long as our troops are freed soon, it should not affect the long term plans. What was an issue was the current lack of progress.

Wednesday 1st November was typical. No new battles, no victories and only four bombing missions. The Wehrmacht must do better.

The next day was dominated by an official Cabinet meeting. First topic concerned the Luftwaffe. Not, unfortunately, its poor performance over the last week, but about whether the Reich should seize the Lufthansa fleet and either incorporate these aircraft into the Luftwaffe or scrap them for parts and materials. This was a meeting I would not attend: the Führer would be too interested to delegate this. I did however drop a few comments that I hoped would influence him: that it could be seen internationally as a sign of weakness; that Göring was trying to increase his empire; that this was an attempt to switch attention from the Luftwaffe’s performance in Poland.


I heard later, however, that what swayed the decision was Goebbels’ predictions of the effect the two options on public opinion. Seizing the aircraft would cause a level of discontent that would lead to a drop of 2% of production nationwide. Scrapping them would be twice as bad. After that announcement, Schacht as Armaments Minister was totally against any such action, and von Blomberg, Raeder and Bayerlein were nearly as adamant. Poor Hermann was by himself. News of the decision that Lufthansa was to remain in the air was greeted with joy, and all vestiges of discontent were swept away.

That same meeting also decided on the future of the Waffen SS. It is to be increased in size and also in quality. “Totenkopf” will become a panzer division, as will “Das Reich”. It sounded very impressive, but when I examined the minutes of the meeting, only one armour regiment has been funded. Several new SS units have been formed, but all are extremely poorly trained.

Von Neurath briefed the meeting on some diplomatic events. Republican Spain has pledged to assist France. At the moment we have no further details, but presumably that will not extend to providing troops. That fool Franco: how could he have lost when he nearly had the whole country under his control? After we had provided him with so much help? We shall see how brave Madrid is when our armies move west.

The other development surprised us all. Von Neurath was forced to admit that despite only yesterday advising that the USA was firmly neutral, it has effectively sided with the British. President Roosevelt has persuaded Congress to sign a bill approving “Cash and Carry” terms. The USA will sell arms to any nation that can pay cash and ship the goods. It is disguised as an open business arrangement, but we are no position to either pay cash, or to ship the goods across the Atlantic. Britain, however, can easily meet both requirements. We need to watch the USA closely.

Still no real action in Poland. There was another attack on Warszawa, but it was over in 2 hours. Von Manstein insists it was just a probe, but a probe involving 68,000 men? With two panzer divisions? I wondered whether it would have been called a probe had it gone a little better.


On Friday, the Führer was in a foul mood. Yet another Cabinet meeting had been set up! Two days in a row he had been called upon to do work! He was tempted to allow me to take his place, but at the last moment he decided he must attend.

The first topic was an offer from the Soviet Union to sign a commercial agreement. They would provide us with a large amount of raw materials in exchange for production capacity, money and supplies. It was tempting, and apparently discussion was vigorous. Finally the offer was declined, but politely.

Our agents in Paris told us the British have agreed to send an Expeditionary Force to France. Not many details are available, but indications are that it will not be large. There will be no attempt by the Kreigsmarine to intercept the troop transports. For a start, we have no information what ports will be used.


I am beginning to think Herr Himmler is getting a bit too powerful. He must have somehow got himself made a regular attendee at Cabinet meetings, and he must have powerful allies. He has been able to get enough funds to start an SS Panzergrenadier division. Not only that, but he informed the Cabinet that even more SS Standarte units have been called up. The Waffen SS is becoming a sizeable force: perhaps enough to field an army of its own at some point in the future.

Admiral Raeder presented his solution to the British control of the seas: raiders. We will convert some transport ships to armed raiders and send them out to harass the sea-lanes. I believe that his main intention is to lure more of the Royal Navy away from the British Isles, allowing the Kriegsmarine a chance to contest the Nordsee at least. One ship is being converted: the “Atlantis”, HSK-2. It will be some time before it is ready to go to sea as fitting the six 150mm guns on concealed mountings is a lengthy job. We are already short of transports, so I am unsure how many more raiders we will be able to send out to challenge the British.


The Heer (or at least a group of its more forward thinkers) pushed hard to form a new sort of unit: the “Kampfgruppe”. This is a combined arms unit supported by a motorised SS infantry unit. Its supporters claim this is the way of the future, a smaller, more flexible division. Von Blomberg must think these officers have a point, as he convinced Cabinet to approve the formation of “Kampfgruppe Kempf”. Once it has been built up to strength, it will be sent east for combat trials.

Since everyone was present, the Cabinet decided to also review research and production funding. (I can imagine the Führer’s eyes rolling back in despair! Financial discussions!). The success of our engineers in designing bridging equipment will allow faster movement. There was no argument. Further funding was approved. The next project, Infantry Unit Command and Control, was worthwhile, but after some debate, it was agreed that we need to prepare for the inevitable annexation of Poland. Partisan groups can be expected to arise, and therefore the development of suppression procedures should be a priority.

The final point was that the flak tower construction in Euskirchen has been completed. Ministers Bayerlein and Schacht joined together to argue that the industrial capacity freed up be used to produce supplies. There was little opposition. Whether that was because of the strength of their argument or that no-one wanted to risk upsetting the two men who controlled the economy is hard to say.

Last night it was the turn of 29.ID to test the Poles in Warszawa. Having discovered that they not only had sentries posted, but that they were heavily armed, General Kaufmann called back his men. It was an expensive lesson: more than 50 men lost.

After the Cabinet meeting everyone left for Nürnberg for the XI Party Congress. I’ll wait for the Leni Reifenstahl movie: I am sure it will be better than being there. I took the afternoon off myself. Why should I work when everyone else is away?


Not much to do on Saturday with everyone in Nürnberg, attending the incongruously named Reichsparteitag des Freidens. (The name was chosen some time ago, by someone who had no idea of the planned events of late 1939. No-one could be bothered changing it). So I relaxed, wandering around the Kanzlei, reading documents left on desks, chatting to secretaries and domestic staff.

It was during my leisurely morning that I received a call from Hauptmann Lehmann. Could he see me in Berlin in a few days? He had run into an administrative problem and wanted my advice and/or assistance. I reassured him that it was no trouble, just to give me a call when he was in the city. When he hung I did wonder if I should have been more curious about his problem. I shouldn’t worry: Werner is a very trusting soul.

The Poles must have realised that if we recapture Jaworow the fall of Lwów would not be far off. That might explain the size of the attack on the Austrian Division in Jaroslaw. General Dreszer had three divisions with more than 50,000 men, while General Veiel had just 14,000. It may be hard for him to continue the attack on Jaworow, but we probably have enough forces already committed to that battle to succeed without the Austrian Division.


There was yet another attack on Warszawa in the afternoon: it was looking as though von Manstein was getting ready for an all-out assault. This attack was made by 21.ID (mot), and von Knobelsdorff kept his men going for 4 hours.

Nürnberg dominated the news on Saturday. Lots of speeches and announcements were made at the Rally, leading to a boost in productivity and some increases in production. Yet another SS unit was paraded out, but it was the Führer’s speech about the war that caused shock waves. France was to be crushed, totally and without mercy. No armistice, no peace negotiations. The Wehrmacht would continue west until it reached the Atlantic and the French government agreed to unconditional surrender.


I think this decision may have been influenced by the insolence of the Spanish in offering to help the French. Hitler may be thinking of conquering Spain, with the aim of closing the Mittelmeer. And putting the Spanish in their place. I am unsure of the wisdom of this decision. We still don’t know how long it will take to crack the French front line, let alone reach Paris. It may take months to force them to surrender. We don’t want to be bogged down in the mountains of northern Spain in late 1940.

Coincidentally, it was on 4th November that the remnants of our troops who “volunteered” to go to Spain finally returned. The news shocked the nation, which had forgotten the shame of our defeat by the socialists and their communist allies. Public dissent with the war and the government rose markedly. On the bright side, there were enough men and equipment to form another Kampfgruppe (“88”) and a both a tactical bomber and an interceptor geschwader . Not to mention the vast amount of knowledge they brought back for our researchers. This gave a significant boost to Luftwaffe projects to improve our pilot and ground crew training, and provided insights into schwerpunkt and blitzkrieg tactics.


Very little for me to do that day though. The research committee rubberstamped an extension for the Mobile Unit Command and Control project, and news came in that Euskirchen had been bombed overnight. It must have been quite discouraging, as the population had been busy cleaning and repairing for the past week.

With spare time, I was able to flip through the debriefing notes from Luftflotte III. Förster’s pilots had startling news: the province of Pultusk was now crammed with more than 150,000 Polish soldiers, survivors of a dozen lost battles. General Kaupisch, co-ordinating the attack on Pultusk, has a real job on his hands.


The only sign that any of our generals understood that Fall Weiß was behind schedule was that Praga was attacked. General Kuntzen and 4.PzD have an uphill battle: as soon as contact was made with the Poles it was realised that Praga was far more strongly held than anticipated. I had a bad feeling about this battle; it could be another costly disaster.


The lack of action by the Wehrmacht continued on November 5th. Perhaps I shouldn’t say lack of action. I am sure that most of our troops are busy. What I see is a lack of progress. It is the task of the High Command to turn the activity of the Heer into results and in Berlin we had seen few results since the collapse of the Torun pocket. At 1PM von Küchler made a point of informing the Kanzler that Jaworow had been recaptured, and with minimal casualties. Given the number of our dead already scattered across the province, it was possibly not a point to stress.

It is once again the lack of missions flown by the Luftwaffe that is raising temperatures. Minister Göring has fled Berlin, claiming he has gone to the front to see for himself what the problems are. Goebbels has been telling anyone who will listen to him that it was to avoid being called to the Reichskanzlerei for another chat with the Führer. I don’t know what the reason is, but it is not the weather. The Poles had no problems in bombing our troops.

We did get two ground attacks that day, though one was another inspection of the Warszawa defences, this time by General de Angelis. (Soon every one of our units will have a good idea of the enemy capital’s outer suburbs). The other battle was in the east, at Bialystok, where 1.ID and 45.ID have a tough fight against a fresh 12th Dywizija Piechoty which is firmly settled into the city and by all accounts is looking to halt our advance.

It was noticeable the next day that Goebbels had stopped telling his story about Göring fleeing the capital. Whatever the reason for the Reichsmarschall’s trip east, it had got results. At least five of our air fleets suddenly found they had aircraft, pilots, fuel and bombs. Only eight missions flown, but a vast improvement. I might suggest that von Blomberg be sent to the front to talk to his generals. There were no victories and no new battles on the 6th. Admittedly there were no defeats, but that is beside the point. Poland must be defeated and quickly. If our current commanders will not or cannot do this, then Germany may be in danger of being invaded itself, from the west. Or even, as von Bock often warns us, from the north, by a British naval invasion.


That did give me time to have my meeting with Hauptmann Lehmann. He did not look well. Physically he was fine, but his face was drawn and he seemed to be under stress. He sat down and blurted out his tale of woe with hardly a breath. He had returned to his regiment and been told he must undergo a routine medical, he had failed the medical as the doctor ruled he did not have “100% function” in his hands, due to the scar tissue from his burns. He was to be discharged. What should he do? The Wehrmacht was his life, all he had ever wanted to do. Could I help?

I listened attentively, a sympathetic expression on my face, before explaining that my hands were tied. These regulations were written for a reason, and to interfere would be to go against the Wehrmacht’s own view of what it required from its soldiers, airmen and sailors. Not even the Fuhrer had the right to weaken the Reich’s only defence: the Wehrmacht.

This prompted another outburst: he was fit and capable. He could fire any weapon, perform any task that would occur in combat. It was only a stupid medical test he failed.

Again I was the voice of reason. The doctors know best, they wouldn’t say these things if they were not certain he might be a risk to his fellow soldiers. Had he thought of alternatives? I knew that the head of filing at the Reichskanzlei was always on the look-out for clerks. Or perhaps a supervisory job on one of Bayerlein’s road gangs?


That was all it needed: an obviously angry Hauptmann stood and marched out, shouting “Gretchen said you would not help – it seems she was right!” So Fräulein Trost is now “Gretchen”. Another fact to be filed away. Otherwise, everything going as expected. All I had to do was wait. Well, not quite all. A couple of telephone calls to the newly formed Foreign Bureau of the Wehrmacht to finalise arrangements. Time for Step Three.

My meeting had taken a fair amount of time but a quick check showed I had missed nothing of importance. The Luftwaffe didn’t improve its performance, but it did maintain it, even in the face of several attacks by Polish fighters. (Wever’s Stukas were hurt over Praga and could only carry out one mission). Still nothing from the Heer. I checked regularly all day, but no news at all from our ground forces.

There was one interesting snippet of information. Some of our agents in Poland claimed that there had been an uprising in Luboml, and this was confirmed by aerial reconnaissance. It must have been quite serious, as we know at least one division has been diverted from the front to put down the rebellion. We have no idea of the cause, but Frick cites it as evidence of a breakdown of control by the Polish government.


Tuesday Wever got his aircraft back in the air, but only temporarily. Sznuk intercepted Schachtluftflotte V over Praga and after being reduced to just less than 250 aircraft (out of 300), Wever refused to send his pilots out again.

It may be coincidence, but at noon Kuntzen abandoned his attempt to take Praga. Even with heavy Luftwaffe assistance it was going to be tough, without any air support it would be impossible. That 4.PzD suffered three times the casualties it imposed was an indication that things would only get worse. The Poles started with a three to one advantage in numbers, so perhaps 600 men lost in 50 hours could be seen to be getting off lightly.


Although our commanders seemed to be incapable of organising an attack, the Poles were not as passive. General Schubert, who had taken easily taken Brok on 29th October, was forced to fight to keep it. Two divisions and a previously unknown cavalry brigade (“Mazowiecka”), all in top condition, were able to shock 8.ID, but the men rallied and the Poles gave up after a few hours. It was a reminder that despite the large number of weakened Polish units, considerable forces remain untouched in the east of the country.


The last news before I sat down to write this entry was that the RAF tried a new tactic: a dusk raid on Leipzig. If they thought this would catch Dörstling off guard they were wrong: he was ready and waiting. His pilots claimed 45 kills. That should buy some respite for the repair crews.

And having completed my journal, time for some respite for myself. A last evening stroll through Berlin before the bitter cold hits.



The man picks up “Das Reich” magazine and thumbs through it. He frowns, puts it back and moves away from the stall. He opens a folder he has been carrying and looks as what appear to be draft pages of some sort of publication and smiles. Closing the folder he turns and heads back the way he came, his steps now indicating a man with a specific destination in mind.

Clint Eastwood said:

Hardcore lurker here!

This is really, really good stuff. Narrative AAR's are all well and good, but this one has something many others lack... actual in game screenshots backing up the tale (and a story which is deep, but not overblown). I approve, however I'm amazed at your patience with the AI. At some point it's going to do something totally mental like abandon the Soviet front line mid Barbarossa and go garrison the Adriatic. That's of course, if you get that far... Judging by the Germans perfomance to date, I reckon the Frenchies will be in Berlin by the end of 1940.

Keep it up, and keep finding more of those WW2 pics I've never seen before.

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I warn you, compliments such as this just encourage me! What I enjoy is making a story out the events as they happen. So I am glad others alos enjoy it.

If given completely free range, the AI does do some wierd things. That is why I limit it to Army level. Believe it or not (and seeing the AI performance so far you may not), I have tried many different games with AI and have found that army level works best for me.

But for me the real reason is I find manual control over everything too boring and predictable. Not that I think there is any real comparison, but having generals who don't do as they are told is not only more realsitic but gives me something to write about.

I am having a spot of trouble with Poles who refuse to accept defeat, but I am beginning to suspect that this mod has given the Poles a bit of a tickle. We shall see how the Wehrmacht performs in the Wast.

Finally, I am glad you like the photos: as I have said before, I spend a lot of time looking for ones that fit the story line but also appear interesting (to me at least).

Gen. Marshall said:

Clint Eastwood (uh... well the person with this username) is right. It's the combination of your narrative and gameplay elements that make this AAR more than just good.

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guillec87 said:

Agreed! I find this AAR as one of the best 5 I've ever read (and in that top 5 is of course our clerck)

Hope your polish campaign doesn't end like mine (I accepted the MR pact, go for Danzig or War but for some reason, after they surrended, Poland got kicked out of the Allies and instead of going the historical partition of Poland, I got all the country annexed and the Soviets got nothing, and now I have a truce with UK and France :sad: (playing Black ICE 1.6.1))

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Thanks guillec87. Don't hurry about putting this in the Top 5. It is early days yet: less than 30 episodes. The clerk would laugh at such a tiny total.

Kayapo said:

Great reading so far. Took me a week to catch up.

I love the tidy bits of information thrown in there. The bit about coffee held my attention, as a brazilian, and I`m not very patriotic or even like coffee.

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Well, I like these littel snippets of information as well. Anything that slightly alters my perception of life in the pre-war years. It is very hard to imagine living in those times, but I do make an effort, even if a purist would say I often get it wrong.

Here on the west coast of Australia, we don't get to meet many Brazilians. Strangely, the only one I know well also is not a coffee drinker. So have I come into contact with the only two. My favourite memory of my Brazlian friend was her stating before a trip back to Sao Paolo: "I will buy some decent bikinis. These Australian ones are just too big".

misterbean said:

you do realise that what is making you unhappy would have the entire Wehrmacht break out the schnapps, don't you? Just think about it. You are halfway to Minsk already, you don't have to worry about those pesky Allies and you can build up for Barby in peace. Hitler would be dancing on the table with fraulein Braun!

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It would be a different game for sure, but might be a bit hard to keep interest if nothing happened until 1941.

KLorberau said:

Poland is still dashing the hopes of most Germans for a quick victory. Heck...Im wondering if maybe they will win the battle of Poland since they have inflicted so many casualties. Even if Germany wins, what kind of shape will it be in (Wehrmacht, Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine) to turn west to take on the French....When you do so, are you going to let the AI do the fighting in the West as well??

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Of course the AI will command the armies of the West. I won't chicken out. We will soon show that French AI what a proper AI can do! Although the numbers may not look good, remember that it does not include those units that surrender. At a guess, this is about 200,000. And the number of German casulties, though high, is only at about my replacement level.

misterbean said:

his MP is still good enough, provided he can close the deal here quickly enough. But you're right. France is always a deciding factor on the outcome of the war.

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Well, it decides it unitl Barbarossa. To my mind, it determines whether you have a 41 or a 42 attack on Russia. (I have found 42 interesting but very hard).

guillec87 said:

I do realise that... and if we add that Commies and Allies are having massives ammounts of casualties in their little war in the Caucasus and India, I imagine the Führer dancing through the streets of Berlin under the rain like in the movie... but, I wanted a challenge, I prepared miself so much and now wverything will be a walkthrough...

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If you want a real challenge, let the AI operate at Army Group level. That is very tough.

Doppelgänger: the Untold Story of the Third Reich​

The last of autumn has gone. A chill wind wanders through the dark, deserted streets of Berlin. Although the cold cannot penetrate the thick glass of the Reichskanzlei window, the man inside looks as though he could do with some cheering up. He is hunched over a telephone, a worried look on his face.


The second week of November started badly, or at least not as well as hoped. We won the Battle of Pultusk, defeating the last great concentration of Polish troops, but the cost was so high. Almost 10,000 men dead and missing. Nearly as bad, many of the defeated units headed into Warszawa, to boost the size of the garrison. To be fair, there was not much that could have been to stop this occurring, and it is doubtful what use the tens of thousands of beaten soldiers would be to the defence of the capital. However, to have paid such a price and to see the prize escape was not something to bring a smile to the Führer’s face. Not that he was here: off to München for a speech and reunion with veterans of his early days as a political agitator. (I feel a little nervous using the phrase even here, in a journal that would see me arrested if anyone even knew of its existence.)

Pultusk was over by about 2AM. At 4AM, the Heer was at last on the move. Possibly the best of our Slovak divisions, 9 Pesi divize, struck towards Lódz, into the province of Sambor. Crossing the Poltva River would be bad enough, but the presence of a relatively intact Nowegrodzka Brygada Kawalerii on the far side made it especially dangerous. However General Bertram, although quite inexperienced, has been successful in the past. We must keep our fingers crossed.


Disappointingly, the Luftwaffe was not as quick off the mark. It was the Polish Air Force that struck first, with dive-bombers terrorising Guhl’s men in Sokolka as they fought to take Bialystok. (It didn’t help: 1.ID was claiming victory only 3 hours later). But at last the Luftwaffe did respond, with our Heinkels hitting the Polish positions in Przemysl just as Dollman’s 3rd Gebirgsjäger Division began its assault. Also involving a river crossing, this is the northern counterpart to Bertram’s attack southwest of Lwów. Although both were risky, at least von Küchler’s army was trying to achieve its objective.

Not that the Luftwaffe’s attempts to regain command in the air were unopposed: when Dessloch ordered Luftflotte to Deblin it was twice met by fighters, from two different units. The Poles were not short of aircraft.

Nor, apparently, was the RAF. Newall and 2nd, 3rd and 4th RAF Strategic Bombing Groups returned to Dortmund in morning and were back over Leipzig in the evening. Although the bombers were undisturbed on the first mission, Dörstling caught the British as they left Leipzig. No details were available.

There was also a very short message from Kapitän Sobe, commander of I.Unterseebootsflotte. He had been patrolling with his short-ranged Type I U-boats off the east coast of England, hoping to find some unescorted coastal steamers. All the message said was “Enemy aircraft: diving”. We heard no more that day.


The fate of our submariners was overshadowed, of course, by the shattering events in München on the night of Wednesday 8th November.

The attempted assassination of the Führer had an impact that is impossible to exaggerate. It is now a tradition that he gives a speech at the Bürgerbräukellar in Rosenheimer Street, München, on the anniversary of the failed “Beer Hall Putsch”. (Seems a particularly poor reason for celebration, but no-one asked me). With the start of war, however, he decided to stay in Berlin. Then, he changed his mind: the occasion must be remembered. He did consider sending me, but these speeches are in front of many people who remember him from before 1936. I pointed out that while I can convince most questioners, old comrades who want to reminisce about the good old days are possibly a bit too much.

So Hitler flew out of Berlin in the morning and gave his speech. During the afternoon though, heavy fog blanketed Bavaria, and it was decided that it would be too dangerous to fly. As a result, the speech was cut short, the backslapping and memories had to be cancelled, and the Führer headed for the Hauptbahnhof for an express train to Berlin.

Barely minutes later, a time-bomb exploded near the speaker’s rostrum, killing eight people. Frick and Himmler are in a panic, and I heard they are trying to blame the British. Hitler, however, is now convinced that his life is in perpetual danger, and has already told me that I will be taking his place at virtually all events outside Berlin. (I expect that will not extend to the big public rallies: no adulation by the masses for me).


During the confusion that reigned on the 9th, Sobe’s news that he had escaped the British aircraft was overlooked by most. He was lucky: his report states that his submarines detected four carriers: “Furious”, “Glorious”, “Courageous” and “Eagle”, with 4 destroyer squadrons. His U-boats were severely damaged and headed for Lubeck for repairs: overall damage was rated at nearly 80%

Our defeat in Sambor also attracted little attention. Bertram gave it a good try, but Nowogrodzska BK had a firm grip on the river line and there was little point in continuing to waste lives on futile attempts.


Even a surge in French activity did not generate much reaction. Two sections of the Westwall that had previously been left in peace were reminded they were in a war zone. The attack into Freiburg was short-lived, over in 5 hours, but General Herzog in Offenburg was under sustained assault.

In Poland, slightly better news as Schubert and 8.ID repulsed 5th, 7th and 18th Diwizja Piechoty and Mazowiecka BK from Brok. But then the Poles had their turn: Schwartzkopff and his Stukas were caught on their second mission over Deblin and lost 25 aircraft to Kuzminski. The morning finished with another defeat, in Praga. This was just a probe though: von Schwedler testing the defenders.

At midday Schlachtluftflotte I was met over Deblin by Iwaszkiewicz and 300 fighters. Another 25 Stukas were shot down before Schwartkopff could extricate his planes. I was getting set for more bad news when a message arrived from General Cranz, commander of the four divisions attacking Deblin. Had he called off the attack? No, in fact he reported the Poles had accepted defeat and were streaming east. Casualties were quite low, and he was advancing at full speed.

Then completely unexpected news. General Grässner has shown that the confidence shown in him was warranted, leading 2 Pesi divize to victory over “Plis” BK in Krasnystaw. It took him a further 9 days to consolidate his first victory in the province, but he did it well.

Was this all a preliminary for the high point of the campaign? OKH certainly hoped this was the case, as it rather solemnly announced that the decisive battle of the war to date had commenced. The “real” Battle of Warszawa. General Henrici with 1st and 4th Panzer, 2nd and 29th Motorised and 14th and 29th Infantry Divisions swept forward at exactly 4PM. In Berlin, people are nervous. We should win, we must win, but the Poles have shown tremendous courage and tenacity. Was defeat possible? Nobody wanted to say it was.


The French General Gamelin may be psychic. He chose Friday morning to send no less than 11 divisions, 186,000 men, against the Westwall. Zickwolff and 62.ID were, as usual, able to weather the initial assault and then throw back the invaders. In Freiburg, von Hammerstein-Equord was not so lucky. The French stayed on German soil, looking to crack the defences.


(Although Hitler is suspicious of von Hammerstein-Equord, I have no doubts as to his loyalty to the Reich. That is not to say I would ever accept one of his many invitations to visit Freiburg. The man has made no secret that he despises the Führer, and I see him as a man both of action and of his word. And there is no doubting the bravery of the “Red General”: anyone who dares to refer to the Party as “Verbrecherbande und Schweineigel” has shown his disregard for personal safety.)

The mounting casualties prompted an emergency meeting of the Research Committee. The Wehrmacht could not guarantee that losses would decline, and in fact seemed to think that Warszawa could be a meat-grinder. As officer recruitment is far above requirements, it has been slashed to allow two new projects: improvements in Combat Medicine and First Aid. Manpower is not an issue npw, but these are early days. Who knows how many will be lost in the next few years.

Worried that the Poles might try to reinforce either Praga or Warszawa, Jodl instructed General Sponheimer to pin the Warszawska Brygada and 8th Obrony Narod. in Zambrów. 50.ID probably had no chance of defeating both units, but it should prevent them from heading west. The critical battles are now underway and we must complete them as quickly as possible.

As part of the effort to keep Polish units from key cities, General Böhme attacked Bilgoraj overnight. Von Küchler insists that 15th DP be kept away from the objective of Ost-Slovak Armee, Lwów. It would appear that the French have a similar plan, as General Boisseau paid another visit to Pirmasens to ensure that Andrae’s 71.ID was kept on alert.

Only hours after Böhme targeted 15th DP, the Polish attack on the Austrian Division in Jaroslaw was called off. General Veiel has claimed victory, which I suppose it is, technically. The thousand men we lost simply to hold our ground might disagree, as the Polish losses were a third of that.


The Führer has still not made any appearances, public or otherwise, since the news of the assassination attempt broke on Thursday. So it was up to me to attend the Cabinet meeting on Saturday. There wasn’t much on the agenda, just the reallocation of funds following the end of some major road works in Czechoslavakia. Minister Schacht had his way in devoting them to more flak defences in Euskirchen. These should be in operation before Christmas.

What was interesting, from my point of view, was the nearly open warfare on display. Schacht started it, apparently innocently, when he pleaded his case for more flak towers in the west. He pointed out, quite correctly, that the cities of the Ruhr could not depend on the Luftwaffe for protection. Göring, as normal whenever his precious Luftwaffe was criticised, leapt to its defence, pointing out that nearly all of its aircraft were in the east. Von Blomberg muttered something about there not being much evidence of that and facetiously asked about the possibility of mobile flak towers to protect his troops. He was then attacked over the failure of the Heer to defeat the Poles, and lashed back with accusations of failure of security for the Führer.


At this point I stepped in and closed the meeting, but it is plain to see that the Reichsministers are easily upset. A few reversals of fortune and they fall on each other like starving rats. Another piece of knowledge to be filed away.

While we were in the meeting, word came in from Poland that another large scale probe into Praga had confirmed the presence of 6th and 7th DP, the Krakowska BK and two corps HQ.

The breaking news that morning was that two serious attacks also took place. The first had started in Luków at 10AM, as 13.ID took on a reserve division supported by the Warszawa Brygada and BK “Edward”. Two HQ units were also in the area. (13.ID had been the first unit to arrive in Deblin after we won the battle for the province late on the 9th.) Initially things went well, but at 1PM the second attack took place. This was by the Poles, and against Deblin! Caught by surprise, General Feige had no choice but to abandon his own attack and concentrate his troops on defending his own supply dumps and assembly areas. As soon as night fell the Poles also withdrew. A lot of fighting to maintain the status quo.


Coincidentally, while the tussle for Deblin moved back and forth, a decisive defeat was inflicted on the Polish forces just to the south, in Lublin. Ost-Slovak Armee had ended up with more than 100,000 men committed to the battle, and although the Poles were able to give Dworak some assistance, Podlaska BK could not handle those odds. As we have come to expect, however, the Poles were reluctant to concede that the province was lost. BK “Plis”, last seen a few days ago in Krasnystaw, has thrown itself at our lead division, 2nd Gebirgsjäger. Combat is still underway, but Süssman and his men although weary, are in far better condition than the Polish cavalry.


Last thing Saturday, von Schwedler was ready to take Praga. He had two panzer divisions (7th and 8th) with his own 2.ID with which to challenge Denbinski’s 62,000 men. His orders were clear however. Victory was not essential. His task was to prevent Warszawa receiving any reinforcements worth the name. Any soldier reaching the city should be tired and hungry and have thrown away his rifle.

Normally I attend the Research Committee meetings, as Hitler, while enjoying the technical discussions, loses interest when budgets are discussed. Sunday 12th, however, he insisted in attending. I saw nothing particularly interesting coming up, so made a point of checking the minutes. Agricultural experts had identified farming jobs that could be carried out more efficiently by machines, freeing up more men for service. That was good, everyone would be happy. Suddenly the meeting changed. The Führer presented a folder containing a proposal to study medical issues. Not combat medicine, we already a group working on that. Diseases, illnesses, the sorts of things that might afflict anyone. And real ground-breaking stuff, years in advance of anything else in the world. Why the sudden interest in this subject?

Then it clicked. These things could afflict anyone: even a Führer. Hitler has been rattled by his close brush with death. It is not just fear of assassination: it is fear of death itself. I can see my self-imposed task getting a little easier, working on a man who will be easier to persuade. (Needless to say, he got his wish for the Medicine project.)

He has also got his wish with the deployment of the Ebbinghaus Battalion. These “commandos”, only 500 of them, are a pet project of his. He thinks that they will achieve miracles. All I know is that they are very expensive to train. The budget has been altered to allow for the construction of a factory complex in Memel. Let’s see the RAF bomb that!

Very little in the way of progress in Poland. Von Manstein assures everyone that Warszawa is proceeding to plan, but no casualty figures are available. All he will say is that Henrici has made a breakthrough and has taken 2/3 of the city. Praga is not going so well.


Feige has gone back into Luków, even though our intelligence was that Krakowska BK has arrived to boost Bortnowski’s strength. How he hoped to overcome odds of two to one against him I don’t know. If Feige had been promised air support, he was misled, and there are no signs of any other divisions being able to assist. The last I heard, 13.ID (mot) was in trouble.


The other “battles” that day were no more than short lived clashes. Von Hase tried his luck in Bialystok twice, but didn’t see any value in persisting. 30th Diwyzja Piechoty’s advance into Augustow was just as brief. The situation on the left wing of Ostprußen Armee is fairly stable, as both sides know it is a sideshow.


There was some activity in the air. Warszawa was bombed, and it was discovered that there are now 173,000 soldiers in the city. The French bombed Saarbrücken and Klepke’s Jagdflotte II intercepted. L’Armee de l’Air was prepared for just such an event, and there was a ferocious air battle between Têtu’s fighters and our Messerschmitts, during which the French bombers completed their mission and flew safely home.


With plenty of spare time on my hands, I started to worry about my own special project: Hauptmann Werner Lehmann. I had expected him to have returned by now, ready for me to put Step 3 of my plan into operation. A couple of calls and I was speaking with his immediate superior, Major Koch. What I heard alarmed me. After my meeting with him, Werner had gone straight back to his quarters, as I expected. There he had been informed that as he was no longer able to fulfil his duties, he was to receive an honourable discharge. It would take a few days, but he would have to leave the regiment within a week.

The next day he was gone. As Major Koch explained, he was technically a deserter. Even though his discharge was being processed, he was still a serving officer. The Major has not filed a report, as he had a great deal of respect for the young Hauptmann, and understood the pressure he was under. Luckily Werner had left all his weapons behind, or there would have been no option but to issue an alert. The Major begged me to help, as he could not defer reporting the unauthorised absence indefinitely. At the end of the month he would have to lodge details of Officers and Other Ranks. If Werner could not be located by then he would be subject to arrest. Not just by the military police, but by the Gestapo. Many in the Party saw desertion as a crime against the state, not just the Wehrmacht. I didn’t to argue the finer points of the law over Werner’s life.

By the time I had done all this it was late in the evening. There was only one thing I could think of. Another telephone call and I was told that Schwester Trost had finished her shift. No, the nursing home would not provide her home address, or a telephone number by which she could be contacted. I could have pushed the matter, but discretion was just as important as time. There would be no advantage in finding Werner if it came out that he was missing in the first place.

It would have to wait until tomorrow. What has that young fool done now? And where is he?


Shaking his head, the man stands and makes for the door. As he turns to give a last glance at the room before switching off the light, a stronger than normal gust makes the windows rattle and it sounds as if hail has spattered the glass. The man’s face momentarily changes, as if he is thinking of someone forced to be out in such conditions. Then the light goes out.

In a quiet suburban street not far from central Berlin, a man leaves a modern looking apartment block and walks to his car nearby. He is smiling and obviously pleased with himself. He start the car without difficulty despite the cold conditions: not only does he have access to petrol, he also has his car maintained by a skilled mechanic. The car heads along deserted streets towards the city centre.


Young Werner caused me a restless night. I knew there was nothing I could do, but that did not stop my mind churning over the problem he presented. What could have gone wrong? My plan had seemed fool-proof. He would get the news that his military career was over, after a few days he would come back to me for advice, I would present him with my proposition which he would accept with joy. Had I misjudged him in some way? Now all I knew was that he was somewhere in Germany. The papers I had given him would allow him to pass the routine security checks required for rail travel.

Fräulein Trost, his close friend at the nursing home, was my only hope. Perhaps he had said something to her. At about 5AM, my mind was made up. A disembodied phone call was not enough: I needed to meet her and ask her questions face to face. Of course I then fell into a deep sleep, woken only by a knock on the door of my apartment. An expressionless security officer stood outside, asking if I was ready to go.

My heart gave a leap. Had Werner been caught? What had he said?

Then reason took over from emotion. This man’s face was vaguely familiar and if I was to be arrested or taken for questioning then there would have been more than one officer. And there was an official car outside, motor running.

I had forgotten that there was a finance meeting on first thing Monday mornings! Hitler would never attend: an 8AM meeting to talk budgets and Reichsmarks? Not for him. The disappearance of Hauptmann Lehmann had driven it out of my mind. Another reason to clear up this mystery quickly.

A quick drive to the Reichskanzlei (no need to sound the horn: civilian traffic has been negligible since petrol was rationed), a visit to my “dressing room” and I was in character. For once I enjoyed being short-tempered and abrasive. The meeting was over in no time. Bayerlein and Schacht wanted to expound at length on the performance of the construction gangs in Czechoslovakia and to put forward a case to extend the contracts. I simply grabbed a map of Poland, drew a line west to east and said “Send them there”. A glare around the room and there was unanimous agreement, every head nodding. (Himmler seemed to hesitate: did he have a sore neck? I doubt it. He is definitely getting too big for his boots.)


Then I could retreat to my own office. I would not be needed for the rest of the day. A call to the nursing home revealed that Krankenschwester Trost would be commencing her shift at noon. Having made sure she would be available for an interview with a senior Party official (I am not a Party member, nor am I too senior, but they were not to know that), I booked a car. No driver, I would handle this alone.

Enough time to review events before I left.

After being disposed of fairly easily by Nowodrodzka BK, at just after midnight General Bertram had decided to try to take Sambor again. This time he was not relying just on his own 9 divise: he has joined forces with 6.PzD. With nearly 40,000 men he had a huge advantage in numbers and armour, but reading between the lines of his report the Poles stopped him at the river again. He had, however, secured some air support.


Shortly before dawn 30th Diwyzja Piechoty, helped by several groups of bombers, made a half-hearted attempt to retake Augustow. It was obvious that the attack was not serious, and General Hase stood down 45.ID at dawn.

Generalleutnant Kessler provided an interesting if slightly depressing update on progress in Warszawa. Luftflotte IV paid its first visit at about dawn, and pilot debriefing plus examination of aerial photographs by our intelligence analysts reveal that the defenders now number about 172,000 men. They comprise 19 regular infantry brigades, 11 garrison and 3 militia brigades, 6 artillery regiments, a cavalry reconnaissance regiment, an armour regiment and 3 anti-aircraft regiments. A tough nut to crack, but at least the rain and snow have held off.


Not long before I left the office General Schubert made what was described as a “reckless assault” on Siedlice. According to General Guderian (8.ID is one of the “northern” units of Polen Armee Sud), Schubert suspected that 30th DP and Nasowiecka BK were preparing to move west into Praga, heading towards Warszawa. Acting on his own initiative, he ordered an immediate attack. Who knows what the Poles intended? It is true that they remained in the province, but we may never know if the attack was warranted. As I passed through a hallway to the garage at the rear of the building, I heard that VII Armeekorps had ordered Schubert to halt all offensive action. Apparently von Reichenau was not happy at the losses incurred by a hasty, ill-planned attack.


The head of medicine at the nursing home was, as usual, waiting to greet me. If he was surprised that I was alone, he had the sense not to show it. That was good, but I needed to make certain of his silence. When he ushered me into the room where Schwester Trost was waiting, I asked if I could have a word with him later, in private. He turned a little pale: nobody wants senior Party officials taking too much interest in them.

I would say it took between 10 and 15 seconds before Fräulein Trost was in tears. I am not used to such a reaction and momentarily forgot the questions I intended to put to her. It didn’t matter, as through the tears I managed to piece together the story.

After leaving his quarters with nothing but the uniform he was wearing and a small bag of personal possessions, Werner headed straight to her. According to her he was distraught and seemed to have been drinking. He told her that he was unworthy of her, of his regiment and that he had let down his parents who had wanted to be proud of him. Germany was at war and he was deemed unfit to serve. She had tried to reason with him but he was nearly incoherent by the end of the conversation. His last words were stuck in her mind: “I know where I can forget everything, where I will be with scum who don’t care who I am”.

She sat sobbing quietly, which was a blessing as I needed time to think. I knew so little about him, even though I had every file on him that I could lay my hands on. Where would he go at such a time? His upbringing had been quite strict, I knew, but his parents were both dead. There were no siblings. What place would he know where he would be able to forget? Where he would be surrounded by “scum”. It suddenly came to me. There was only one place in his short, sheltered life that fitted the description. But it might be hard to get him: I could not risk him resisting me and shouting out what he knew. I would need help, and she was sitting opposite me. She would have to accompany me. She could not remain here anyway, as it was obvious that Hauptmann Werner Lehmann was no longer “Willi Schmidt” to her.

Brusquely I ordered her to her feet and told her to wait by the car. She would be going to Berlin with me. She started to mention her parents and I indicated the telephone. “Fünf minuten”.

Then a short chat with my dear friend the Head of Medicine. I am getting quite good at frightening people, and it was in just over five minutes that he had agreed to transfer Schwester Trost to the medical centre at the Reichskanzlei, to erase all mention of “Herr Schmidt” from the nursing home records and to forget he had ever met me, Herr Schmidt or Fräulein Trost. He was sweating quite profusely as I shook hands with him, though it was close to freezing as I stood next to the car, Fräulein Trost a pale shape in the back seat.

I was busy thinking on the way back to the city, and my passenger was not in the mood for light conversation. So it was with some surprise as I drew close to Wilhelmstraße that realised that the traffic was very heavy. The administrative district was jammed with cars, nearly all military staff cars. My pass got me into the Kanzlei car-park, but I saw vehicles sitting on kerbs and pavements. Something had stirred the ant’s nest and I suspected I would not like it when I discovered what it was.


Bits and pieces of conversation soon added up. We had been stabbed in the back! Belgium, after years of proclaiming its neutrality, had declared it would join the Allies. The Belgian Army was on the move, against a virtually undefended border. It was only a short time ago Von Paulus and VI Armeekorps had been moved from that very area and sent south, to reinforce the Westwall Armee. The Ruhr and its industries were at risk. Köln is only 100 kilometeres from the bulk of the Belgian Army in Verviers. If the Belgians occupy those, even for a short while, our economy, and with it the Wehrmacht, would grind to a halt.


Hauptmann Lehmann would have to wait until I was sure things were under control. Telling Fräulein Trost to make herself at home, but not to leave, I pushed her into my “work” apartment and rushed off to find out what was happening.

In order that I was aware of current events, one of the security detachment had the responsibility of briefing me. It could be embarrassing if, as the Führer’s double, I was unaware of a major event. Within a few minutes I was a little more relaxed. General Model, OB West, had reacted swiftly. Von Paulus and his three divisions had been snatched back from the Westwall Armee and would march north as soon as they could be extricated from the front line. More drastically, Kämpfe’s XXV A-K had been taken from Grenze-Süd Armee and was already boarding trains heading for Köln. That leaves Blaskowitz with only one division to hold the southern border. Foreign Minister von Neurath, his career (and perhaps his life) hanging by a thread after his failure to warn of Belgium’s decision, has sworn that Yugoslavia is no threat. He had better be right.

General von Bock had advised Model that he should be able to hold the Belgians, provided the French do not arrive before our reinforcements. We may, however, lose some territory. This would be, of course, a political issue, not a military risk. Minister Goebbels is already preparing propaganda releases and Security Minister Frick has cancelled all leave for his men.

So the situation was bad, but manageable. All we could do was wait and see how swiftly the Belgians and French moved. Aachen and Euskirchen were completely undefended: neither Kämpfe nor von Paulus could guarantee that they would have troops there before the Allies.

The only good news was that there was no need (yet) to remove units from Poland. Nevertheless, Ministers von Blomberg and Göring were summoned to the Führer’s office where they were no doubt told what was expected of them. Hitler might not be interested in the minutiae, but he was quite capable of identifying a crisis and “encouraging” his deputies to solve it.

It was surprisingly easy to get some time off: the Führer was quite happy to spend the next few days haranguing his ministers. He had set aside the whole of Tuesday morning for the unfortunate Minister von Neurath.

Time for action. A couple of telephone calls to set things up, a handful of passes and authorities and then, accompanied by Fräulein Trost, I was off to the Bahnhof. I knew where to go, the only place that the Hauptmann had ever come into contact with the seedy side of life: the waterfront bars of Hamburg where he had got drunk with the crew of the “Königsberg”.

As dawn arose over Hamburg, we left the Hauptbahnhof and headed straight to the local Ordnungspolizei office. (Although Himmler had nominal control of the Orpos, his more devoted followers were concentrated in the Sicherheitspolizei. I wanted to keep away from them.) My telephone to the Verwaltungspolizei had made sure that a couple of dependable officers were waiting. “Dependable” in the sense of big, strong and not likely to discuss their duties or ask questions.


I explained that we were looking for an army officer with some mental issues who would be in one of the harbour-side bars. He was to be returned to a hospital in Berlin unharmed. If they thought it odd that with the Reich under attack that a high-ranking official and a nurse suddenly turned up in Hamburg looking for a missing soldier they kept it to themselves. Maybe as long serving police officers they had simply given trying to understand why people did things.

The next few hours were not pleasant. How many bars does a city need? And I felt sure that they shouldn’t be full on a Tuesday morning. One of the Orpos explained that the wharfs usually worked all night and that bars were allowed to open for the shift-workers.


Finally we struck gold. I was just about to leave a bar that was even more dingy than most when my eye caught sight of a hunched figure at the rear, barely visible in the fug of cigarette smoke. I excitedly lunged forward, only to find my way blocked by a drunk demanding to know what I was doing. Before I could do anything an enormous green clad arm reached past me and swept the man out of the way. In fact, it swept him, his table and several of his friends out of the way. One of his drinking associates made to protest and recoiled with his mouth a mess of blood and teeth. It seems my escort had been to bars before and were well schooled in the appropriate way to deal with any discontent. We had no more trouble.

The hum of activity had stopped and there was silence as our boots crackled over the broken glass. The hunched figure had looked up at the noise and was trying to focus on us. “Werner” I started to say, but Fräulein Trost pushed past me and ran towards him. His eyes slowly showed some awareness and then filled with tears. He looked terrible, but she hugged him as though he were Prince Charming.

My “Grüne Polizei” moved in and picked up Werner who did not resist at all, just kept looking at Fräulein Trost. The patrons scrambled to make sure nobody impeded us and we were soon in the car. Pausing only to open the windows, (Hauptmann Lehmann had neglected personal hygiene since he left Berlin) we headed back to the Bahnhof. The Orpos saluted and left: their notebooks would show that they had a made a routine patrol of the waterfront but had seen nothing of interest.

Flashing an official authority allowed me to commandeer an entire carriage on the next train to Berlin, and I was able to sleep while Werner was looked after by his nurse. It seemed to take no time to travel the 250 kilometres to the capital, and then I took the couple to one of the fully furnished and provisioned apartments maintained for visiting Party officials. It had been booked indefinitely by the Führer’s office and I expected no enquiries. There I left Werner in the care of Schwester Trost: he would have a few unpleasant days recovering from an alcoholic bender of that length and intensity.

By now it was evening. I went to my own apartment and collapsed, exhausted despite my sleep on the train.

Wednesday I was at work early. What had happened while I was away? What had the Belgians done?

The big news was exactly that: a Belgian cavalry division had occupied Aachen and the Belgian flag flew above the city. What took me aback was that we have already been able to mount an attack to liberate the area. General Reinhardt had ordered V Armeekorps to retake Aachen, and Glokke’s 35.ID was already engaged in combat. With reactions like that, maybe the damage could be minimised.

Even better, at 9AM the French gave up the fight for Saarbrücken. A huge defeat, as General Bayer and 69.ID had held off more than 250,000 men in a battle that lasted 20 days. The Westwall was standing firm.

The Poles had heard of the Belgian entry to the war, and early on Tuesday had tried their luck in both Sokolka and Augustow. When they found our troops were still there, they pulled back, with all fighting over by dawn. Von Hase had also been active on Tuesday, twice probing Bialystock but with no success.

There was another attempt to take Augustow on Wednesday, this time with two divisions, but it was again beaten back. Apart from some intermittent Lutwaffe operations, there was little news from the east.


It was made up for by the news from the west. At about 3PM, Glokke had achieved what had been considered impossible: he had cleared the Belgians from Aachen. 51.ID had performed well under pressure, driving out the cavalry in just a few hours.

The joy was short-lived. Communications were lost with Euskirchen at 4PM, fairly conclusive evidence that the Belgians had seized control. As if to hammer home the point that we were under attack from all sides, at 5PM the Canadians broke off diplomatic relations: they had joined the war. (Von Neurath was quick to point out that he had warned of this for some time).
I had intended to leave early, but there was rumour that more action was expected in the west, so I caught up on some old files while I waited. At about 7PM we heard that von Paulus had got a unit to Bitburg and had moved it into Euskirchen. As with Aachen, only light infantry and cavalry were present and General von Faber du Faur was enthusiastic about the chances of 6.ID recapturing the area.


About the same time Jodl confirmed that von Hase had once again entered Bialystok. There were now three divisions opposing him (12, 24, 30 DP) but he too had three divisions (1, 23, 45.ID). That gives him a slight edge in numbers and a great advantage in equipment, but victory, if possible, would be costly. On the other hand, three first line Polish divisions will not reach Warszawa in time to halt our advance into the city.

It was gone 8PM by the time I reached the apartment where I had left Werner and his nurse. She let me in, a finger on her lips. He was asleep, seemingly peaceful. Although the bedroom had been cleaned, through the aroma of disinfectant I could smell something that told me Werner had been getting rid of impurities from his system. Sleep would do him more good than anything I could do.

I ushered Fräulein Trost into the living room, and told her that there would be a delivery of basic groceries the next morning. A nurse would also attend for several hours in the morning. This would allow her to acquire some clothes and other necessities. When she started to protest about a lack of money, I handed her a list. “These shops have been instructed to charge all your purchases to the Reichskanzlei account. Just show your identification.”


I told her I would be back in a few days, at which time I would have a surprise for Werner. Her job was to not only get him back to health, but to make sure he didn’t leave. I was about to ask if she was able to ensure this, but the look in her eyes made the question unnecessary. I know the Hauptmann is brave, but it would take a particular sort of courage to cross Krankenschwester Trost. He was in good hands.

Thursday was the day the war became a reality to most Germans. The Government announced that we were now fighting a Total War. Thousands of officers were called out of reserve, the call up classes were doubled, industrial capacity increased by 15%. On the down side, this would adversely affect our research and supply production, but the nation was to be geared for war. Our territory had been violated and no sacrifice was too great.

In what was a classic case of government not knowing what it was doing, at virtually the same time the Research Committee was meeting. Improvements in education theory would speed up research, and no less than 5 new projects were started. Nobody had told the committee that many of the engineers and technical specialists had been taken by the Wehrmacht. On current figures, only 46 of the 56 projects could be active. Nobody noticed however, and it was weeks before adjustments were made.

The dire situation in the west has brought about a sudden change in the east. The generals seem to have adopted a “steady as she goes” policy. There was an attack on Ostrow in the north of the Poland, but it was nothing really. The Poles bombed Sokolka, we bombed Przemysl. Otherwise, just the steady grind forward on half a dozen battlefields. It is as if everyone was watching the tussle for Warszawa.


No time to sit and watch in the west. Even though he had pushed his men as hard as they could march in the freezing conditions, General Glokke could not move as fast as Ley’s cavalry. So during the day 35.ID was embroiled in disorganised fight as both sides struggled to control Aachen.

To top off the confused situation, Leipzig was bombed again. Dörstling could only intercept Newall’s planes as they headed home.

Minister Schacht has been poring over the expenditure budgets and by trimming a bit here and bit there has come up with the funds and factory capacity to produce another motorised division. It will take nearly a year to be complete, but it is still good news. It is now apparent to everyone in the Wehrmacht and the administration that we need to vastly increase the size of the Heer. It does not help that for every four Reichsmarks spent on new units, we must spend one Reichsmark on upgrading existing units. It is critical that we utilise our technical advantages, but it does slow down our build up.

Two victories in the west in the early morning of the 17th November. Glokke’s men broke the Belgian cavalry in Aachen, while Zickwolff once more threw back the French from Landau.


An inconclusive air battle over Bialystok between Luftflotte II and Polish fighters commanded by Iwaszkiewicz, and a small amount of bombing by both sides. That was all in the east until late in the afternoon when Böhme broke though in Bilgoraj. He found the area strewn with Polish dead. Attacked from three sides by a larger and better armed force, the Poles had fought until more than 10% of their soldiers were killed. Everyone hopes that the defenders of Warszawa are not as courageous.


I dropped in to see Werner that evening, but he was asleep again. Fräulein Trost told he that physically was much better: he was eating regularly and had slept a lot. He was, however, still very low emotionally. I said I would be back in the following evening with what I hoped was good news.

The 18th was another day of scattered bombing, and a series of air battles in the Prague area between Luftflotte Reich and a group of French strategic bombers. Felmy’s pilots shot down more than 80 aircraft over a few hours. That was the excitement of the day. When I left for my meeting with Hauptmann Lehmann, General Andrae and 71.ID were under attack again, but there was no risk of Pirmasens being lost.


As I sat at the table with Werner and his young lady (there was no doubt now of the relationship), I mentally crossed my fingers. I did not want to think about my options should this not work as I hoped. Two people who knew of my activities and who had nothing to lose. There would be only one option, but I refused to accept it. My plan must work.

So I was especially persuasive as I started to talk about the huge number of men joining the Wehrmacht. Werner looked a little sick at being reminded of what he had lost, but I begged him to hear me out. I spoke of these men scattered across Europe, in the air, out at sea in ships and U-boats. All knowing what was happening in their immediate locality, but eager to see and hear of the overall picture.

I revealed that early next year, the Wehrmacht would publish its own magazine to provide just this sort of information. Goebbels and his Reichsministerium für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda were not to be allowed any input. It was to be a Wehrmacht publication, staffed by members of the Wehrmacht. (Werner was looking a little more interested).

The magazine was to be called “Signal”, and it was currently recruiting. Not just writers, printing staff, photographer and editors. They needed war correspondents. Of course this would be dangerous (Werner’s eyes were gleaming) but the pay was respectable. Most of all, it was vital work, work that the Wehrmacht saw as a priority. And all such war correspondents would of course be given an appropriate rank.


My fish was on the hook. All it needed was the final tug. I had been asked if I knew anyone I considered suitable. (Not quite the truth, but Werner didn’t need to know the pressure I had applied to the Chief of the Wehrmacht Propaganda Office). Was Werner able to defer his intention of drinking himself to death to help his nation?

I left minutes later: it was getting too embarrassing getting showered with kisses by an attractive young woman and too painful being thumped on the back by an obviously very fit young man. And I suspected my presence would not be required for the rest of the night.



As the car gets closer to the administrative centre of Berlin, the pleased expression of the occupant fades, replaced by a look of concern. The reality of a country at war cannot be forgotten for long.